


the wrong people caught the blades

by Freezeurbrain



Category: We Are The Tigers - Allen
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Death, Murder, Murder Mystery, Murderswap au, Sleepovers, Whodunnit, swap au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:15:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 23,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23852179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Freezeurbrain/pseuds/Freezeurbrain
Summary: This was supposed to be a normal sleepover. Playing Truth or Dare, watching horror movies, seeing who can stay up the latest.Of course, a Tigers sleepover would be anything but normal.
Relationships: Annleigh/Clark (We Are The Tigers), Cairo & Riley (We Are The Tigers), Chess & Kate (We Are The Tigers)
Comments: 50
Kudos: 57





	1. Chapter 1

_You’re better than this._

Those four words had haunted Chess Friedman for as long as she could remember. The sentence that had practically shaped her very existence, that had always been used against her whenever she failed to reach her “ _potential_ ”. 

“Potential.” That word was a more deadly weapon than a knife. It was a curse, a curse that Chess didn’t have a choice as to whether or not she bore. 

Why couldn’t she have just been your average, untalented high school girl? Maybe then, things would have been different. Things would have been better. People would look at her in the hallways and not think anything at all. They wouldn’t think “ _oh, there’s Chess Friedman, the almost-Olympian_ ” or “ _there’s Chess Friedman, who cost her team the biggest win of the season_ ”. 

Chess could do nothing but replay the last five minutes over and over in her mind. Farrah’s usual haughty tone, practically spitting out the words “ _There’s no way I’m doing anything if she’s the base_ ”. Kate snapping, Farrah snapping even more. And finally, Farrah had said the words that got to Chess the most. 

“ _The whole country already knows she can’t pass a drug test_.”

Chess couldn’t take it anymore. She’d stood up and walked out- up the basement stairs, through Riley’s living room, walls adorned with the stereotypical Facebook mom decorations- “Live, Laugh, Love”, wooden sighs with Bible quotes on them, the works - and out the front door. Now, she stood in Riley’s front yard- practically a speck in a world of identical fancy houses, swallowed up by pools in the backyard, white picket fences, and the classic American nuclear families living inside said houses. She wasn’t quite sure what she was doing, or where she was planning to go without her car keys, her cell phone, or any of her stuff. She’d just needed to get out of that basement, needed to get away from her teammates’ stares and Farrah’s angry words- and the crushing knowledge that Farrah was _right_. 

Chess _was_ a mess. Not that Farrah had much right to call her out for it- Chess couldn’t recall a time she’d seen Farrah and _not_ at the very least smelled alcohol on her breath - but still. It wasn’t like Chess was any better- constantly coming into practice high out of her mind on painkillers, getting stoned right before big competitions...

_Dropping your teammates and single-handedly ruining your team’s reputation_.

Chess felt awful about what had happened last year. Farrah had every right to hate her for it. Chess hated _herself_ for it. In one stupid move, she’d ruined not only her team, but her teammates’ trust in her. Only Kate seemed to stick by Chess now- why she did that, Chess didn’t know. 

She couldn’t take it anymore. Her head were swimming with thoughts, none of them good. She wanted it to stop. She _needed_ it to stop. She unzipped the fanny pack around her waist, feeling around the small area- 

Thank god. The bottle was still there.

Chess didn’t know why she’d started taking more pills than she needed to. They were supposed to be for her knee, nothing else. At first, they’d helped. Her mind would become foggy, blissfully so. She wouldn’t be able to think of injuries, of Farrah, of anything. But after a while, one pill hadn’t given her that same effect. So she’d started taking two pills per day, seeing if it had any effect. And after that, when she went back to taking just one, she felt... well, she felt like shit. She would get headaches, she’d feel nauseous... sometimes she’d even throw up. It wasn’t worth it to _not_ take the pills. They helped her more than they hurt her, anyway...

_Right?_

That question had been gnawing at the back of her mind ever since she and her dads were all watching PBS together, and a documentary about the role the pharmaceutical industry had in drug addiction came on. And suddenly, Chess’s harmless pills didn’t seem so harmless after all.

Chess kept telling herself it was fine. She wasn’t an _addict_. Addicts were the people on crack cocaine, or heroin- the hard drugs, the street drugs - who physically couldn’t give it up. Chess was in control. Chess was fine. She could stop if she wanted to. She just... chose to keep going. 

The more she told herself that, she hoped, the more she’d actually believe it.

Shaking her head, Chess opened up the pill bottle, hearing the familiar sound of small white tablets clattering against orange plastic. Just a couple more, and she’d stop thinking of Farrah, and of failed competitions- she wouldn’t think much of anything, really. 

“Chess!”

Chess was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of someone’s voice. Her head whipped around just in time to see a familiar face with a backwards baseball cap over brown hair jogging towards her, brow furrowed with concern. 

_Kate._

Chess’s eyes widened. Kate couldn’t see that she’d been taking the pills- not again. Chess had promised Kate, the last time Kate caught Chess taking them. Kate would freak out, she’d tell Chess’s dads, and then _they’d_ freak out- 

And Chess would have let everybody down again.

Quicker than she knew she could, Chess shoved the bottle into her jacket pocket and turned around to face Kate. It wasn’t the ideal hiding spot, but it would do for now. 

“Kate.” Chess plastered on a smile, then regretted it a second later. Even _she_ could hear the lie in the happy expression. 

“Come on.” Kate held something out to Chess- her cell phone and her car keys. “Let’s get out of here.”

The offer was so tempting that Chess almost accepted. The urge to grab the keys, unlock the car, and ditch the sleepover with Kate like some kind of platonic teenage Thelma and Louise was almost unreal. It was only eight- they could probably still salvage this evening. Maybe they could go get fro-yo, and go see an absolutely garbage movie just to talk shit about it afterwards. That would be a hundred, no, a _thousand_ times better than staying in that basement with everyone staring at her, practically tiptoeing around her as if she were a bomb that would explode at the slightest stress.

But Chess couldn’t just _leave_. She’d never earn the team’s trust back if all she did was run away whenever they brought up her past failures. All leaving would get her was kicked off the team, and the people who looked at her in the halls when she passed by would have yet another failure to gossip about.

“I can’t.” Chess tried to avoid looking at Kate’s disappointed face, but her efforts were in vain. “I can’t leave. Not yet.” 

Kate’s shoulders sagged, the hurt etched across her face painfully clear even in the darkness. “Why not?” 

Chess let out a sigh, her shoulders falling as the air left her mouth. “I made a mistake last year. I have to earn their trust back, just like I had to earn yours.”

Kate was silent for a long moment, before she looked up at Chess with concern etched across her face. “You... _are_ okay, right?”

Chess felt her heart skip a beat. “It’s okay. I’m fine.” 

“Then let’s go.” Kate held the phone and car keys out again, as if she were pleading with Chess to take the offer. “Before something happens and...” Her voice trailed off.

“And what?” Chess asked.

“And... you do something stupid.”

Chess felt a pang of hurt at that, but she knew Kate was probably right. Still, she couldn’t leave. “If I tell you I’m okay, you have to believe me.”

“I do. And I want you to stay that way.” The look on Kate’s face made Chess feel guilty all over again for deceiving her. “So let’s go. We don’t even _like_ them.”

Maybe that was true on Kate’s part- she never seemed to get along with anyone on the team -but it wasn’t true for Chess. “I do this _for_ them, Kate.”

Kate blinked, and seemed like she was about to say something, but Chess continued talking.

“I was supposed to be the face of the nation. I’m not gonna be the girl who was too broken for high school cheerleading.” Chess knew that was all she had to say, but something gnawed at her. Kate really didn’t seem to like anyone on the team- so why did she stick around? “If you hate this team so much, why don’t you just go back to gymnastics?”

Kate stared at Chess like she couldn’t even believe the question. “Not without you.”

“You can do things on your own, you know.” Chess hadn’t intended for that to sound mean. But she didn’t want Kate staying in a sport she didn’t like with teammates she hated just because Chess was there. Softly, she added, “You’re so good at it.”

“It’s our last year together.” Kate took a step towards Chess. “I’m- I’m not gonna spend it without you.”

So _that_ was what this was about. Chess knew Kate wasn’t enthusiastic about the idea of Chess leaving for college. Would Kate really stay in a sport she hated just to milk every last second she got with Chess?

“Kate, I’m going to college. I’m not dying.” Chess said. “In another year, you’ll be there, too.”

“What if something happens and I don’t get in? What if-“

Chess cut Kate off. “It doesn’t matter where we are.” 

Kate sighed, sitting down on a wrought-iron bench between some hydrangea bushes. From the look on her face, she was fighting back tears. 

Chess sat down next to her friend. “You’re my best friend. Whatever happens, nothing’s gonna change that. I promise.”

She’d intended for that to be comforting, but it didn’t seem to have that affect.

“Don’t promise that.”

Chess blinked. “What?”

“Don’t promise that.” Kate repeated. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

“Kate.” Chess put a hand on her best friend’s shoulder. “We’re still gonna be friends. I already said we’ll Skype. Every day if you want. It’ll be like I’m not even gone.”

Kate made a noise that sounded like a curious hybrid between a scoff and a sob. “I have two older siblings, Chess. You think I haven’t heard that before? You’ll start skipping calls, because you’ll be busy or have too much homework or whatever, and then we won’t talk for weeks, and then when I finally do call, you won’t pick up.” She threw her hands in the air, almost in a gesture of surrender. “And then you’ll meet some guy at a bar and forget I ever existed.” 

It was only as she watched Kate’s arms fall back down to a resting position that Chess noticed Kate was missing her signature flannel. She normally never went anywhere without one, but here she was, very much flannel-less. By the way she was rubbing her arms, she must have been cold.

“Why aren’t you wearing your flannel?” Chess asked.

“I took it off in the basement.” Kate shivered as her bare arms touched the metal, which was undoubtably chilled by the cool night air.

“Here.” Without even thinking, Chess took off her jacket and handed it to Kate. Kate hesitated, but the temperature won over and she put the jacket on. Now Chess’s arms were cold, but she didn’t mind.

The two of them sat in silence for a while, before Chess spoke again, so soft it was almost a whisper. “I’m not gonna forget about you, Kate.” 

“You say that now...” Kate’s voice trailed off, and she looked down at her hands in her lap.

“I’m serious.” Chess said. “Kate, look at me.”

Kate looked up.

“We’re always going to be friends, okay? Nothing can change that. Not even guys at bars.”

Kate cracked a small smile at that. “Not even a hot one?”

“Not even Sexiest Man Alive level hot.” Chess smirked, happy that she’d at least gotten a smile out of Kate. She considered that a win. “Chicks before dicks, am I right?”

“I don’t want dicks in the first place.” Kate said, and Chess couldn’t hold back a snort of laughter. 

“At least I never have to worry about you getting a boyfriend before me.” Chess said.

Kate laughed. She adjusted her hands, putting them in the jacket pockets... 

Chess and Kate both realized something at the same time.

_The pills._

_I forgot about the fucking pills._

In an instant, the humorous mood vanished. Chess’s brain was screaming at her, screaming a million things. Do this, do that, say something, anything. However, her body could only watch in horrified silence as Kate pulled the familiar orange plastic pill bottle out of Chess’s jacket pocket.

Kate’s smile faded, replaced with an expression of pure horror and hurt that was worse than any pain Chess had ever felt. She looked down at the bottle, then back at Chess, then at the bottle again, as if she were praying for it to be a misunderstanding, or a hallucination, or some kind of twisted dream. As if she wanted what she was seeing to be anything but reality. 

Kate didn’t know how badly Chess wanted that, too.

“They’re for my knee.” The lie sounded pitiful even to Chess, and from the look on Kate’s face, she wasn’t the least bit convinced. 

Kate opened her mouth, then closed it, as if she were struggling to find the words. Finally, she spoke. “We’ll start over, Chess.” 

Chess’s stomach lurched at the thought, and she shook her head. “No.”

“You’re better than this!” 

Those four words again. The words Chess was sick and tired of hearing, even though the way Kate’s voice broke made something inside of her shatter. 

_You’re better than this._

“No.” Chess didn’t know if she was saying that to Kate, or to herself. “I’m sorry. But I’m not.”

She turned and began to walk away, unable to meet Kate’s eye. Never mind that Kate had her pills- She’d have to give them back sooner or later, right? She just needed to get away.

But no amount of looking away could prevent Chess from hearing Kate’s next words, the words she practically spit, where Chess could hear the disappointment in every syllable.

“You had one person left who believe in you. _One._ ” 

Chess fumbled with the front doorknob, trying to fight back the tears pooling in her eyes. _Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry, do not cry-_

She opened the door, practically stumbled through the doorway, and shut it behind her. Her legs felt like Jell-O, shaking and quivering beneath the weight of her body, so she leaned against the door for support. Then, some dam inside of her broke. Whatever restraint she had gave way, and the tears began to flow. Not slowly, either- she simply began sobbing and sank to the floor until she was sitting, back against the door, her whole body shaking with her sobs. 

_You’re better than this._

That was a lie. 

Chess wasn’t better than this. She was a mess. She always had been, and she always would be.

There was nothing that could change that.

***

Kate’s anger at Chess quickly fizzled out when she was left alone. Instead of being angry or even sad, she just felt... defeated.

She looked at the bottle of pills in her hand- how long had Chess been taking them behind her back? How long had Chess been lying to Kate’s face, saying she was better now, that she was okay, that Kate didn’t need to be worried?

And what was Kate supposed to do now?

She couldn’t pretend like nothing had happened. But if she told Chess’s parents, they’d freak out. Chess would definitely know Kate had told them, and she’d be mad, and she’d never talk to Kate again.

Was it selfish for Kate to not want that?

She was caught between a rock and a hard place, as her mom liked to say. She couldn’t let Chess go on like this. Chess could end up in the hospital- she could _die_ from this. Why couldn’t she see that? Why couldn’t she see that she was _better_? 

There was a noise, the sound of a twig snapping, that broke Kate out of her trance. Was someone out here with her? 

“Hello?” 

There was no response, only the sound of creaking metal and leaves rustling.

Kate stood up, every muscle in her body tensing. What if it was one of the other team members? She’d have to explain why she was standing out here alone, with a bottle of painkillers that weren’t hers. _That_ wouldn’t get her in trouble at all.

“Hello?”

This time, the response came in the form of the neighbor’s barking dog. The sudden noise was enough to make Kate scream and jump back, but when she realized what it was, her muscles unclenched and she sighed. 

She turned around, ready to head back inside and face whatever was coming next. However, when she turned, she saw something she hadn’t expected. Some _one_ she hadn’t expected. In the darkness, against the bright lights of the porch, they were little more than a silhouette, but Kate had just enough time to see the flash of a knife blade in their hands before it plunged into her stomach. 

There was no one around to hear her scream.


	2. Chapter 2

Farrah hadn’t thought this was what her life would come to.

She’d thought she’d be spending her sophomore year of high school hanging out with her friends, gushing over boys (or girls) they liked, going to football games and parties and wishing they were old enough to go to prom. So far, reality hadn’t lived up to the hype. All she’d been doing was getting shitfaced at parties every night, snapping at her sister, and thinking up ways to sneak alcohol into school. She could always put it in her water bottle like she’d done for this sleepover, but the teachers were extra wary about that kind of thing after last year, when a senior had smuggled a whole thing of straight vodka into biology class using _his_ water bottle, drank the whole thing, and vomited it up half an hour later. That idiot just had to ruin it for the rest of them.

Annleigh hated that Farrah drank. Scratch that, Annleigh hated _Farrah_ , period. She always treated Farrah like an intruder, someone who had barged in and messed up Annleigh’s perfect white, straight, cisgender, Christian, suburban life. Like it was _Farrah’s_ fault for being adopted by the whitest, straightest, most cisgender Bible-thumpers in all of Colorado. 

Sure, Farrah acted like she didn’t care. She’d get on Annleigh’s nerves. Pretend like she couldn’t care less if Annleigh hated her, despised her, wanted Farrah out of her room, her house, her _life_. When Annleigh founded an a cappella group called Chords for Christ- that had exactly 5 members, and they were Annleigh, Clark, and three of Annleigh’s friends from the Giles Corey High FCA, because who wanted to join an a cappella group called _Chords for Christ_ , anyway? - Farrah had immediately founded a rival group that she dubbed “Songs for Satan”. She’d thought that was humorous. The school board apparently didn’t. All _that_ had gotten her was an hour-long talk with the guidance counselor about “ _Healthy outlets_ ” and “ _School-appropriate humor_ ”. The school couldn’t shut down the group, not unless they wanted a potential lawsuit for violating a student’s First Amendment rights, so as of right now, Songs for Satan was still an official school club. There weren’t any members except Farrah, though. Cairo might have joined if it wasn’t Farrah’s club- she liked to annoy Annleigh even more than Farrah did - but she probably hated Farrah too much. Farrah was tone deaf, anyway- all her knowledge of a cappella groups came solely from the _Pitch Perfect_ movies. Maybe she’d get a photo in the Clubs section of the yearbook, though. That would _really_ piss Annleigh off.

But no matter how much she annoyed Annleigh, it never made her happy for long. There was the immediate dose of satisfaction, then it would fade and be replaced with the same hollow space in her heart that she always carried around.

 _That’s fucking cheesy._ Farrah scoffed at her own emotions. 

But she really _did_ care what Annleigh thought of her. She wanted Annleigh to consider her a sister. She wanted them to do normal sister things, like stay up late talking about meaningless things and threaten each others’ romantic partners by saying “ _if you break her heart, I’ll break your skull_ ” or some other generic phrase that sisters in Disney Channel shows always said. But all Farrah could do was fuck things up.

She hadn’t _meant_ to drop Annleigh’s phone. She’d just wanted Annleigh to put Clark away and pay attention to her. But of course, Farrah couldn’t do one thing right. And of course Annleigh had snapped at her. Why wouldn’t she? But it still hurt. It hurt when Annleigh said “ _You are_ not _my sister_ ”. 

Farrah was already drunk. She knew that. But right now, she just wanted another drink. Of course, stupid Cairo had to give her “water” bottle to that freshman. When Farrah got it back, it was almost gone. She had a flask in her backpack, but she’d forgotten to fill it up before she left the party. 

Which was how she wound up creeping into Riley’s kitchen, looking for Riley’s parents’ liquor cabinet to top herself off. Farrah figured she would have at least a few minutes before the rest of the team got suspicious- Riley’s house was _huge_ , it wasn’t inconceivable that someone would have trouble finding the bathroom. She could grab a bottle, fill her flask, replace the missing alcohol with water, and no one would be any the wiser. She’d done it a couple times before at team meetings. There shouldn’t have been any problems.

Of course, Farrah ran into a problem.

She was almost to the kitchen when she heard... talking. Not just anyone talking, but _Annleigh_ talking.

 _Shit._

Well, _that_ threw a wrench into the plan.

She could always just wait until Annleigh left. Or she could turn around and see if Riley’s parents were those people who had, like, a wine cellar in the basement or some shit. But as she was contemplating her various options of alcohol-stealing, she heard another voice.

“I love you, Annleigh.”

Was that... _Clark_? 

“You mean everything to me.” 

There was no mistaking it- that was definitely Clark. He’d driven Annleigh and Farrah to this sleepover just a few hours ago- he’d bitched at Farrah for not wearing a seatbelt and refused to go even one mile faster than the speed limit, even though they were already late. But why was he _here_? Besides the stereotypical, non-spoken “no boys allowed” rule that every sleepover seemed to have, Riley had explicitly stated the sleepover was “ _team members only_ ” in the invites. Hell, it was a miracle that Reese had even made the cutoff. 

“I loved you from the moment I saw you.”

And why in the ever-loving hell was Clark giving a cheesy romantic monologue to Annleigh in the middle of Riley’s kitchen, at a sleepover he wasn’t even supposed to be at?

“I want to be with you forever.”

If Farrah wasn’t so concerned about staying hidden, she would have peeked around the corner to see exactly what was going on.

From inside the kitchen, Annleigh gasped.

Then Clark spoke his next four words. “Will you marry me?”

If not for the fact that she was hiding, Farrah would have audibly gasped. It took every ounce of willpower not to. Was Clark being serious? No way. He and Annleigh were juniors in high school. For God’s sake, they were _sixteen_ Farrah didn’t even think it was _legal_ to get married at sixteen. 

Before Annleigh could respond, another voice ripped through the silence.

“Annleigh? You in there?”

Farrah heard Annleigh gasp. “Hide!”

There was a lot of shuffling, the slamming of a door- what, had she stuffed Clark into a cabinet or something? - and the sound of footsteps entering the kitchen. 

“Who were you talking to?” 

Ah. Farrah could recognize that voice anywhere. Apparently, Cairo had, albeit unintentionally, decided to cockblock Annleigh and Clark.

“No one!” Annleigh’s voice practically went up a whole octave as she spoke. “I was just... praying for a great, safe year.”

Cairo scoffed. “Can you throw in the strength to go back downstairs? Riley’s trying to teach the new cheer and everyone’s disappeared.”

Okay, Farrah bore a bit of the blame in that.

Cairo continued, oblivious to the fact that she was being eavesdropped on. “Have you seen Farrah? What, is she raiding Riley’s liquor cabinet again?”

Shit, was Farrah really _that_ obvious?

“What?” Annleigh made an obviously over-exaggerated noise of surprise. “Pfft, no.” There was the sound of a door opening, and Annleigh yelling. “Farrah!” The door slammed shut, and Annleigh gave the most forced-sounding laugh Farrah had ever heard. “See? Nothing in here but snacks.”

Jesus. Annleigh was lucky _she_ wasn’t the one who drank- she wouldn’t be able to last a day without getting found out. She was quite possibly the worst liar Farrah had ever heard.

Cairo seemed like she was about to say more, but the doorbell cut her off. 

“Oh!” Annleigh gave another nervous laugh. “Better get that.”

“Better join me.” Cairo mocked Annleigh’s mannerisms as she spoke, which was admittedly hilarious. 

Farrah heard Cairo and Annleigh’s footsteps walking down the hall, and Annleigh’s voice rapidly fading as she asked, “Were you expecting anyone?”

“I don’t know, Annleigh.” Farrah could practically _hear_ the eye roll as Cairo spoke. “Did you finally summon the Messiah?”

Farrah didn’t hear Annleigh’s response, which meant that the two of them were off answering the door, therefore not in the kitchen, and therefore not able to catch Farrah in the act of breaking into Riley’s liquor cabinet. 

Of course she’d forgotten about Clark. As soon as she entered the kitchen, Clark, who had apparently emerged from his hiding spot in the .2 seconds Annleigh and Cairo had been gone, spun around and looked at her with wide eyes and an expression that read “ _oh shit_ ”.

“Farrah?” Clark looked like a kid who had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar- an expression of pure panic on his face. He probably thought Farrah was going to turn him in to the rest of the team.

But Farrah wasn’t about to do that. “Hey, Clark.” She reached up and opened the cabinet where she knew Riley’s parents kept their liquor, perusing the available selection of alcohol like she didn’t have an audience. 

“This isn’t what it looks like, I promise.” Clark was speaking so rapidly that his words practically blurred together.

Farrah snorted. “What, you accidentally snuck into a stranger’s house? A house that just so happened to have my sister in it?”

“She left her night guard in my car.” Clark said weakly.

“Uh-huh.” Farrah nodded, reaching up into the cabinet and pulling out a bottle of Jim Beam. “And you decided to propose to her while returning her night guard? I didn’t know you were such a romantic.”

If this were a cartoon, Clark’s jaw would have been on the floor by now. “You heard that?”

Farrah screwed the cap off the bottle, pouring the honey-brown liquid into her flask. “Yep.”

“What else did you hear?” Clark asked.

“Just the proposal.” Farrah said.

Clark’s shoulders relaxed, as if there had been more to the conversation. Like _proposing to her sister_ wasn’t the most relevant thing Farrah could have heard. 

Farrah sighed. “You seriously want to marry my sister?” 

Clark looked surprised, as if it wasn’t even a thing to be questioned. “I love her.”

Farrah wondered if Clark knew how much he sounded like a teenage cliché right now. _But I love her._

“You’re juniors in high school.” Farrah said.

“You’re a sophomore.”

Farrah chuckled. “Touché.” She put the flask to her mouth and took a sip, the smooth, sweet, caramel-like taste of bourbon filling her mouth. 

“You shouldn’t be drinking.” Clark said, like he was the alcohol police or something.

“You shouldn’t be at a team-members-only sleepover.” Farrah said flatly. She grabbed the bottle of Jim Beam off the counter, walked over to the sink, and filled the empty space with water. After she shook it around some, it looked like no one had even taken a drink to begin with. It would probably _taste_ like it, though, once one of Riley’s parents decided they were in the mood for some bourbon. But by then, it wouldn’t be Farrah’s problem anymore.

Clark winced, as if he’d just been reminded of the fact that he wasn’t supposed to be here. “You’re not going to... tell anyone, are you?”

Farrah stood up on her tiptoes in order to put the watered-down bourbon back in its rightful place. “If you don’t tell anyone you saw me drinking.” 

Clark let out a sigh of relief. “I won’t. I promise.” 

“You probably want to find a new hiding spot, though.” Farrah said. “They’ll probably be coming back soon, and trust me- the other girls won’t be as forgiving as I am. And Clark?”

“Hmm?”

“If you break her heart, I’ll break your skull.”

That wasn’t a serious threat. But Farrah had just really, _really_ wanted to say it. 

Even if there was no way Annleigh would do the same for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah, no murder in this chapter. Next one, I promise!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> freezeurbrain inc. takes no responsibility for any emotional pain you may experience reading this chapter. by proceeding, you agree you will not pursue legal action against freezeurbrain inc. for any emotional harm you may suffer.

Chess knew that, no matter what she did, people were going to look at her when she went back into that basement. After that shitshow with Farrah, she would have been more concerned had she _not_ gotten at least a few curious glances. So she figured, why not make them look at her for reasons other than the fact that she looked like a drunk middle-aged mom who had just watched The Notebook? She’d already narrowly avoided discovery when she heard Annleigh and Cairo going to answer the front door, and had to run and duck for cover in Riley’s mom’s office. Was it overkill? Maybe a little. But it was better than having to explain to her teammates why she was curled up in a ball on the front door mat, crying her eyes out.

And that was why she’d spent at least ten minutes in one of the many bathrooms in Riley’s house, running cold water and splashing it under her eyes, hoping it would get rid of the tattletale swelling and redness around her eyes that had resulted from an unknown amount of crying. She took a few deep, shaky breaths as she wrung her hands out, staring at the reflection in the mirror looking back at her. It was... better than when she’d come in. Her nose was still red and there was still some blotchy spots on her face, but it looked more like Chess had a cold than that she’d just been crying. It was good enough.

She was still prepared for the very real possibility of someone asking what was wrong when she re-emerged down in the basement, apparently interrupting some kind of meeting between Riley, Cairo, Annleigh, Mattie, and Reese. But as it turned out, Riley only had one thing on her mind.

“Oh!” Riley’s eyes widened when she saw Chess standing at the bottom of the stares, hugging her arms. “Where’s Kate?” 

“Oh, she, uh...” Chess scrambled for an excuse that wasn’t ‘ _She discovered my stash of painkillers that I’m taking illegally and got pissed. Also, did I mention I’m taking drugs?_ ’ “...she left her toothbrush in my car.”

“Next to your Vicodin?” The smirk on Cairo’s face was so shit-eating and self-satisfied, Kate would have whooped her ass into tomorrow and not felt a single bit of remorse for it. Kate would have snapped back a retort. Kate would have said something, _anything_. Kate wouldn’t have just stood there silently, letting the entire room absorb the snarky comment.

Chess wasn’t Kate, though. 

“Moving on!” Riley’s sing-song voice broke through the awkward silence. “I think we should take a look at the new cheer... Reeses, why don’t you go find the others?”

Reese seemed to tense up at Riley’s use of the team’s nickname for her. Chess wasn’t even sure who had started it at this point- it was like they had all just decided to call her ‘Reeses’ simultaneously and no one had objected to this. Still, a wide smile spread across her face as she straightened her posture, as if trying to seem as tall as possible. “You know, I could take Kate’s spot if she needs a break.”

“Oh!” Riley obviously hadn’t expected that answer. “Um... I think...” Her eyes darted around the room wildly, as if looking for some kind of excuse to give Reese. “I think it’s best if we don’t confuse things.”

Reese, however, didn’t seem to be giving up that easily. “I remember the combination from tryouts.”

“Oh, that’s... that’s sweet.” Riley pursed her lips together in a thin, tight smile. “Why don’t you just get everyone down here first. Okay?”

Reese’s shoulders fell, and though she kept her wide smile, her eyes betrayed her disappointment at Riley’s response. “Totally. I’m on it.”

As Reese jogged up the basement stairs, Riley called after her with a high-pitched “Thanks! That’s so helpful!” However, as soon as Reese was gone, her face contorted into an uncomfortable half-grimace.

Cairo scoffed. “Why did you even invite her?”

“We can’t have the Tigers without the Tiger!” Riley said, almost defensively. “Besides, a gesture of goodwill never killed anyone.”

“Except Jesus.” Annleigh piped up. Everyone in the room slowly turned to look at her, before Cairo responded with exactly what everyone else was thinking.

“Annleigh. What the _fuck_?”

“What?” 

“No one needs to hear your Jesus spiel for the fiftieth time!”

As Annleigh and Cairo continued their age-old-battle of Christian versus atheist, Chess noticed Mattie, the freshman who Cairo had dared to drink from Farrah’s totally-just-water-bottle, gag and grab her stomach. She stood up and rushed out of the room faster than an almost-Olympian who had been called out for being stoned and dropping a teammate during the biggest competition of the season. 

Well, _that_ could only mean one thing. 

As Cairo, Riley, and Annleigh raced after Mattie, Chess couldn’t do anything but fall back down onto the couch and let out a sigh. First there was that whole drama with Farrah, then Kate yelled at her, and now Mattie was drunk and presumably about to puke her guts out. 

Could this night get _any_ worse?

***

Farrah’s night, evidently, couldn’t get any worse. _Maybe that extra alcohol was a bad idea._

And maybe, just maybe, Farrah should have thought of that _before_ she ended up hunched over a toilet bowl, vomiting up everything she’d drank in the past couple of hours. The bile stung her throat and made her eyes water, but Farrah couldn’t really do anything to stop it. 

“Hello?” Someone called out, but their voice was muffled by the silence and Farrah was too preoccupied with puking to bother to determine who it was. “Mattie?”

The door opened, and Farrah heard somebody entering. “Mattie?”

Now that the person was in the room with Farrah, she could clearly identify who it was. And, just Farrah’s luck, it was the last person she would ever want to find her in this state. The bathroom lights came on, illuminating both Farrah and the person who had just interrupted Farrah’s vomiting. 

Annleigh’s eyes were probably the size of personal pan pizzas as she took in the sight before her. “Farrah?”

The only response Farrah could manage to give was retching.

“Oh my gosh, Farrah!”

Farrah looked up, locking eyes with her shocked sister. “Surprise.”

“Are you okay?” Annleigh’s voice had actual concern in it, which was... not what Farrah had expected. 

“Perfect.” Farrah would have responded further, but a lurching in her stomach sent her leaning over the toilet bowl again.

“What are you doing in here?” Annleigh asked.

“I could say the same to you.” Farrah was suddenly aware of how much she sounded like a fourth grader when she said that. 

“I was looking for Mattie- why are you throwing up?” 

Farrah scoffed. “Why do you care? You hate me.”

“That’s not true.” Annleigh said.

Farrah shrugged. “Everyone hates me. Chess, Cairo, you, the three million people who only know me as ‘the girl who got a concussion on YouTube’...” 

“I don’t hate you, Farrah.” 

“You just yelled at me.” Farrah said flatly. “You said I wasn’t supposed to be living in your house.”

“That...” Annleigh took a sharp inhale of breath. “That... wasn’t okay. I’m sorry I said that. I don’t feel like that, Farrah. Really.”

“You got super mad when I founded Songs for Satan. You didn’t even talk to me for, like, a week.”

“I...” Annleigh didn’t appear to have an answer for that. “Yes, I was mad. But that was only because it felt like...”

“It felt like what?” Farrah asked.

“Like you were making fun of me.”

“Oh.” Farrah looked down at the tile floor. “I didn’t mean to make you feel like that.”

“Then why did you do it?” Annleigh asked softly.

“I just... wanted to get on your nerves. Like a real sister.”

“What do you mean?” Annleigh looked utterly puzzled by this statement.

“I wanted to be like a real sister. The kind that get on each others’ nerves and threaten each others’ boyfriends and stay up late at night talking about boys.”

“You didn’t have to do... _that_.” 

“The only way you pay attention to me is when I annoy you.” Farrah said. “Or when I drink.”

“Farrah, that’s...” 

“Fucked up?” Farrah nodded. “I know.”

“I was going to say _messed up_ , but...” Annleigh shook her head. “That’s not the point. You don’t need to annoy me _or_ drink just to get my attention.”

“You won’t pay attention to me if I don’t.”

“I-“ For once, Annleigh seemed to be speechless. Maybe Farrah should call the Guinness World Records and tell them of this momentous occasion. 

There was a long moment of awkward silence, in which neither Farrah nor Annleigh said anything. Finally, Annleigh spoke. 

“Riley... she’s looking for you.” 

“Oh.” Farrah stood up, wobbling slightly as she attempted to get to her feet. “I guess I’d better get going, then.” While she wasn’t eager to face the rest of her team looking like such a mess, anything was better than this excruciating conversation. 

“Yeah.” Annleigh nodded. “Yeah.”

Farrah looked back at her sister, and saw a surprising expression of almost... disappointment pass across Annleigh’s face. “Hey, Annleigh, please don’t tell anyone I was in here, okay? I didn’t mean to get so... fucked up.”

“Then why did you drink so much?” Annleigh asked.

“Because everyone else was?” 

Annleigh didn’t respond, she only looked down at the floor and avoided eye contact as Farrah walked out the door and down the hallway. It was only when she reached the bottom of the stairs that the tears started to come. 

She didn’t drink because everyone else drank. She didn’t even drink to get Annleigh’s attention. 

She drank because, without alcohol, she was just some lame-o nobody that didn’t get a second glance. Some hopeless loser girl, just one of a hundred like her trying to get through high school. 

It hadn’t even started as a regular thing. She’d just been at a friend’s birthday party and someone dared her to take a shot. She remembered exactly how it tasted- like battery acid. But the way the other girls cheered when she took it, and how they all laughed afterwards... it had given her a buzz. It was, in a way, more intoxicating than what she’d just drank. 

So Farrah started going to parties. Playing drinking games. Coming home tipsy, but happy. And soon coming home tipsy had escalated to coming home wasted.

She could stop, any time she wanted. Of course she could. She could just stop going to parties, stop raiding her parents’ liquor cabinet, stop. But it wasn’t that easy. If she stopped, she’d fade back into oblivion again. She’d be a nobody. No one would give her the time of day.

Yeah. Farrah’s life may have been a nightmarish, alcohol-filled stupor, but at least she was somebody. 

That was better than nothing.

***

If not for the fact that she was in a gross, germ-filled bathroom, Annleigh would have sunken to the floor. But Annleigh valued her health, so she resorted to the much less gross alternative of sitting down on the (closed) toilet lid and thinking about what had just happened.

Did Farrah really do all of... _that_ to get Annleigh to acknowledge her? 

How long had she been doing this? 

_How could I make her feel so alone?_

The things Annleigh had said to Farrah during their argument kept playing back in her head, over and over again. Horrible things. Things she probably wouldn’t have said if she hadn’t been so angry at Farrah, if Farrah hadn’t dropped her phone. You couldn’t take back that sort of stuff.

A clang coming from behind the shower curtain made Annleigh jump, and snapped her out of her thoughts. She stood up, more out of reflex than anything else. No one else could be in here with her- there was only one door, and she would have seen someone coming in through the window. Unless someone had been hiding behind the shower curtain the entire time, listening to everything. _That _was a really scary possibility.__

__Cautiously, Annleigh reached out and pulled the shower curtain aside. She let out a sigh of relief when she found no eavesdropper standing there. Her eyes traveled to the bottom of the shower-bathtub combo, where she found the apparent source of that clanging sound- a bottle of apricot shampoo. It had probably just fallen off the shelf._ _

__Annleigh reached down into the empty bathtub to grab the bottle off the floor, stepping inside the tub to reach the shelf where various bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash were kept. Right as she was moving to step out, another sound made her jump._ _

__The sound of a door opening._ _

__Annleigh knew that this probably looked weird- her standing fully clothed in Riley’s shower, as if _she_ was the one hiding and eavesdropping on private conversations. She opened her mouth, about to explain the whole thing with the shampoo bottle, but she didn’t have time to even get a word out before the curtain was violently ripped open and the person standing before her plunged a knife into her abdomen._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)


	4. Chapter 4

When Reese came back into the room, Chess’s spirits were briefly raised. However, they fell back down again when only Farrah followed Reese inside the basement, and there was no sign of Kate.

Cairo eyed Farrah suspiciously as she entered. “Where’s Annleigh?”

Farrah shrugged, sinking down onto the couch. “I don’t know. I’m sure she’s living her best Christian life.”

“Was Kate around?” Chess asked. 

Before Reese could answer, Cairo stood up. “What is _up_ with you two? Trouble in paradise?”

Chess blinked. “What do you-“

Cairo cut Chess off. “You know, if you’re going to date a teammate, you should really let us know when there’s a problem. It’s a safety thing.”

In times like these, Chess envied Kate’s ability to hide her embarrassment. If she’d had it now, her face wouldn’t be hotter than the sun and (probably) redder than a tomato. “Kate and I are not dating.”

“Oh, please.” Cairo scoffed. “I’m not an idiot. I know the looks she gives you every practice.”

“Even _I_ can smell the sexual tension.” Farrah piped up from her spot on the couch. “She’s totally got a crush on you.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Chess shook her head. “Kate and I are just friends.”

“Friends with a strong urge to fuck each other.” Cairo muttered.

“Kate isn’t my girlfriend!”

“Oh.” Chess looked up, where Riley was standing at the foot of the basement stairs with wide eyes. “Oh, are we doing this _now_?” She turned to Chess with a wide smile, clapping her hands together. “Chess, you are welcome here in whatever color of the rainbow with which you choose to identify.”

If it was possible for Chess’s face to get any redder, it certainly did then. “Kate and I aren’t dating!”

“It’s okay, Chess.” Riley spoke as if she was calming a toddler with a temper tantrum. “If there’s anything going on between you and Kate, you can tell us. The Tigers are a no-judgement zone.”

 _Yeah;_ Chess thought, no _shit_ the Tigers were a no-judgement zone. Pretty much everyone on the team was some form of LGBTQ+, including Chess herself. She was bi, yeah, but that didn’t automatically mean she had a crush on Kate. Besides, they’d known each other for so long, and Chess was a year older than Kate, anyway. If anything, their relationship was more of a sisterly type of thing. But what Cairo had said about Kate...

Come to think of it, there _were_ a few moments where Chess had thought Kate’s behavior towards her was a little less than platonic. 

_Great. Add ‘possible lesbian crush’ to the list of ‘Things I Need To Talk With Kate About ASAP’._

Instead of responding, Chess took what her dad would call a “strategic exit”. “I’m gonna go find Kate. So we can... get this sleepover back on track.”

“Mm-hm.” Cairo nodded slowly, almost patronizingly. “Don’t take too long.”

Rather than respond to Cairo’s implications of some kind of makeup sex in Riley’s house (ew), Chess simply stood up and walked up the basement stairs. As she walked down the hallway, Farrah and Cairo’s words kept echoing in her mind.

_She’s totally got a crush on you._

_I know the look she gives you every practice._

Chess knew Kate was a lesbian. But she also knew that didn’t automatically mean Kate had a crush on her. Contrary to popular belief, lesbians did not exclusively get crushes on their best friends. 

But had she been so determined to ignore the stereotypes that she ignored the blatant signs of a crush? 

That made things a whole new level of awkward. _Hella_ awkward. No, not even just hella awkward. This was so _fucking_ awkward in so many ways. Not only did she have to talk to Kate about the pills, but this? Was the universe ever going to be done punishing Chess? 

What’s worse was, if Kate did, in fact, have a crush on her, Chess knew she would have to reject her. Chess loved Kate, she really did, but only in a platonic way. 

Chess opened the front door and stepped out into the cool night air. If she was going to look for Kate, she might as well start in the place she last saw her. Retracing her steps, and all that. 

When Chess stepped off the porch and out of the lights, she had to be sure she wasn’t seeing things when she looked to her left. Was that really there, or was it just her eyes adjusting to the sudden darkness? Because Chess thought she saw something very strange on the ground by the hydrangea bushes where Kate and Chess had their talk... she didn’t even know how long ago it had been anymore. 

Chess walked over to the mysterious object to get a closer look. The closer she got to it, she realized that this wasn’t a hallucination brought on by a sudden lack of light. This was something very real, very tangible. When Chess finally saw it in its entirety, she gasped. 

It was Kate.

***

Cairo wasn’t just mad.

She was _pissed_. 

First, Farrah started that whole drama with Chess. Then, Kate just had to go missing. Farrah was absolutely wasted, God only knew where Annleigh was, and Chess was also AWOL. And the icing on the shitty cake was when Mattie stumbled into the room with so much blood pouring down her face that she looked like a horror movie extra. And everything had went to shit. Riley has screamed. Farrah had slurred out “ _Oh my God, she’s_ dying!”, which wasn’t the best thing to say about a bleeding person, let alone an extremely drunk bleeding person. Not only had Mattie started screaming, she’d actually _passed out_ on Riley’s basement floor. Cairo was surprised that hadn’t sent Riley into hysterics right then and there. Instead, Riley had stood up, wringing her hands and blinking rapidly in the way that she only did when she was two seconds away from bursting into tears. Riley had been all _”Nobody freak out, okay?”_ as she left the room to go get Mattie some ice, not seeming to realize that she was the one who could use that advice the most.

And Cairo really didn’t have a choice but to follow her.

Because Riley _was_ two seconds away from a mental breakdown. Cairo could see it in her eyes, in her too-wide smile, in her fidgeting and shuffling and sing-songy tone. Cairo had known Riley for seven years, and she knew every single one of the red flags for a Riley breakdown. This whole night, Riley had just been getting closer and closer to the edge. Every shitty thing that happened seemed to push her closer and closer to the kind of meltdown that would get her called “ _crazy_ ”. If she broke down now, she’d never get the team’s respect back. And that sort of thing would absolutely crush Riley. She’d dreamed of being team captain for so long. She couldn’t handle that kind of rejection now.

And that was exactly why Cairo was pissed. Everything just _had_ to go wrong on the night that Riley needed the most for things to go right. 

When Cairo found Riley, she was opening and closing cabinets like a maniac, her smile and chipper demeanor having vanished once she was out of her teammates’ gaze. 

“I thought we weren’t freaking out.”

Riley practically spun on her heels to face Cairo. “Are you blind? Mattie’s broken, Annleigh’s missing, Kate’s probably taken Chess’s car keys and left...”

“Sounds like a party to me.” Cairo had intended to make Riley laugh with that, or at least get a chuckle out of her best friend, but it seemed to have the exact opposite effect.

“There is a time to have fun, Cai, and there’s a time to be responsible for the people that trust you to lead them.” Riley went back to looking around in the kitchen drawers.

“The school year hasn’t even started yet!” Cairo protested. “You can’t throw a party, then get mad when everyone isn’t ready to focus.”

“This is not a _party_.” Riley practically gritted her teeth as she spoke, as if _party_ was some kind of curse word.

“Girl, this is a party.” Cairo muttered. “You’re just bad at throwing them.”

“So help me.” Riley grabbed a first aid kid out of the cabinet, set it on the counter, and began rooting through it.

“That’s all I do!” Cairo knew that was unfair, but it just felt so true. It seemed like everything she did was to help Riley- talk her down from ledges, organize team gatherings when Riley was so nervous, she couldn’t even speak, and now _this_. “I used my influence as prom princess to-“

“Stop it with the prom princess crap!” Riley cut Cairo off, with surprising sternness in her voice. “Okay? Cheerleaders _inspire_. Prom court gets, like, five seconds on a stage and a plastic tiara.”

Cairo blinked. So Riley couldn’t even be _happy_ for Cairo now? Winning any kind of prom court had been a dream for Cairo ever since she was a little kid, but she’d always thought it would never happen. She didn’t look like the prom queens on movies or TV. When they’d called her name in the gym, she had been overjoyed. Sure, it may have been just five seconds for Riley, but for Cairo, those were the best five seconds of her life. “Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you.”

“It wouldn’t disappoint me if you actually tried.” Riley said. “You put all this effort into what you look like, and nothing into what you could really achieve for this school.”

“One could argue that what I look like _is_ the school’s biggest achievement.” Cairo snapped.

Riley shook her head. “Look, if you don’t want to be here, we don’t need you.”

Cairo’s eyes widened at that. “Hey! I, by far, am _not_ the worst girl on this team.”

“Oh, what an accomplishment.” Riley finally looked up from that stupid first aid kit. “Would you like a tiara for that, too?”

“I’d like some respect.” Cairo said. “You know who you were before I met you? You were _nothing_. You were nobody. You were just that anxious little stuttering kid who froze up whenever the teacher called on her. And who had your back? Who was the one person you could always count on, every single time? Who beat up Nancy Buchanan when she made fun of you after you broke down when you tried to give a speech in front of the class? Who got suspended for that? Who never once gave up on you, even when everyone else did? That’s right. Me. I have been beside you every _fucking_ step of the way. And you have the balls to say I do nothing for this team? That I do nothing for you?”

“You know what?” Riley snapped, “Get over yourself, Cairo. This isn’t fourth grade anymore. I got here on my own.”

Cairo scoffed. “No. I got those girls to watch you at tryouts. I _begged_ them to see you.”

“Oh. You mean the year I made the team and you didn’t?” Riley’s voice was dripping with sarcasm.

“They only take one freshman a year, Riley.” Cairo rolled her eyes. “I knew what I was doing.”

“There’s no real limit on freshmen! And you know why you never got on as a sophomore? They didn’t want you! You were this troublemaker kid who started fights in the halls when people looked at you funny. You mouthed off to teachers in class because the thought that you might possibly be _wrong_ never crossed your mind. You went to parties, you could hardly keep your pants on for one night. No one wanted that kind of liability on their team!”

“So what if I was a _liability_?” Cairo said. “I had your back every single time, Riley. All of those times you didn’t cut yourself slack, I was there. I’m the one who’s always been beside you. I’m the reason you don’t see just how much people are really trashing us. I’ve only done what’s best for you since day one, and I would like a little gratitude for it!”

“Gratitude?” Riley’s eyes widened, as if Cairo had just said something unbelievable. “If anyone around here deserves some _gratitude_ , it’s me. I have tried, Cairo, I’ve tried so hard to do what’s best for this team. Even when I wasn’t captain. All you’ve done is be _prom princess_.” Riley practically spat those last two words.

“I cannot believe you-“

“I can’t deal with this right now, Cai.” Riley grabbed a roll of gauze and a bottle of disinfectant out of the first aid kit. “I actually have responsibilities to attend to.” 

With that, Riley turned and stormed out of the kitchen. Cairo didn’t really see any other option but to follow her.

Apparently, the gauze and disinfectant had been very much needed. Reese was holding a bloody cloth, while Farrah was currently crouched over Mattie, doing chest compressions while humming the song “Stayin’ Alive” under her breath. 

“Farrah, what are you doing?” Riley ran over to the unconscious Mattie, practically shoving Farrah out of the way to administer the disinfectant to the wound on Mattie’s forehead.

“I’m doing CPR!” Farrah said. “What does it look like I’m doing?”

“Do you even know how to do CPR?” Cairo asked. The only thing she’d thought Farrah was good at blowing air into was a breathalyzer tube.

“I read a WikiHow article.” Farrah said, almost sheepishly.

Knowing her, Farrah had probably endangered Mattie’s life more than she’d helped. Still, Cairo decided to keep that comment to herself, opting for a much less snarky response. “Well, at least things can’t get any worse.”

Before anyone could respond, a scream ripped through the air. At first, Cairo thought it had come from the TV- she’d had Cheerleader Kill Squad on earlier, after all -but Riley had made her turn that off earlier. Besides, the scream was too far away to have come from the basement TV. And Riley’s parents weren’t home, so they couldn’t have been watching anything on the upstairs TV. But scream had come from upstairs, and if it didn’t come from a TV... 

_It came from a person._

Everyone in the room seemed to realize what was going on at once. Cairo was the first one up the basement stairs, followed closely by Riley, who was followed by Farrah, with Reese bringing up the rear. Reese, however, broke off from the group, still holding the bloody rag out in front of her as if she was trying to keep it as far away from her as possible. Judging by the way she was heading, she was going to throw it away in the kitchen. Cairo didn’t blame her for that, but did she _have_ to do it while they were investigating a suspicious and alarming scream that had just come from outside the house they were currently in?

As it turned out, they were right to be worried.

When they went outside, they didn’t have to look far to find the source of the scream. 

“Hey, hey, stay with me, okay? Kate, please, stay with me. Kate, say something, please. Oh my God, please, talk to me! Kate!” 

Chess was kneeling down on the lawn, shaking something back and forth while speaking rapidly. 

No, she wasn’t just shaking _something _.__

__She was shaking _Kate_. _ _

__Kate, who was lying on her back in the grass, her eyes glazed over and empty. But that wasn’t the most alarming part. No, the scariest part was the fact that Kate’s abdomen was red, her clothes stained with what could only be... blood._ _

__Cairo’s stomach dropped as if she’d just been on some kind of rollercoaster. No, this wasn’t... she couldn’t have... Kate couldn’t be _dead_._ _

__But the evidence was right in front of her, even as Chess continued to shake her best friend back and forth as if she hoped Kate would wake up, as if she could revive her._ _

__“Kate, _please_ \- please wake up.” Chess choked back a sob._ _

__It was Riley who finally spoke. “Is she-“_ _

__Farrah’s eyes widened. “Oh my God. Is she dead?!”_ _

__Riley clasped her hands over her mouth in shock. Chess continued shaking Kate frantically. “Kate, wake up! Wake up! _Wake up_!” When Kate remained unresponsive, Chess looked up at Cairo, Riley, and Farrah with wide, tear-filled eyes. “Call the police! Someone do something!”_ _

__“We don’t have our phones!” Farrah said, sounding genuinely panicked._ _

__“They’re inside.” Riley said. “I’ll go get them.”_ _

__“No!” Cairo grabbed Riley’s arm. “Whoever did this could still be in the house!”_ _

__“I’m the captain.” Riley said. “It’s my responsibility. If anything happens, run. My neighbors can call the cops for you.”_ _

__Riley ran back inside the house, but she didn’t stay inside for long. A few minutes later, she came back, a panicked expression on her face. “The phones are gone!”_ _

__“How are the phones gone?!” Farrah asked._ _

__“I don’t know the backstory, they’re just not there!” Riley yelled._ _

__“So whoever did this is still in the house.” Cairo’s eyes widened._ _

__“Aren’t gated communities supposed to have guards?” Farrah asked._ _

__“Yeah, and he’s probably asleep right now.” Cairo said. “We are eight vulnerable girls alone in a-“ Cairo looked up. “This is the start to every horror movie.”_ _

__“We have to call an ambulance.” Chess said frantically._ _

__“Don’t you have, like, a landline?” Farrah asked._ _

__Riley looked at Farrah as if she’d just asked for the answer to two plus two. “No one has a frickin’ landline anymore!”_ _

__“Kate needs help!” Chess said._ _

__“She’s _dead_!” Riley yelled. _ _

__“Wait.” Farrah’s eyes widened. “Oh my God. Oh my God. Annleigh!”_ _

__Before anyone could stop her, Farrah raced back into the house. As dumb as that may have been, Cairo realized she was right. Annleigh, Reese, Mattie... the rest of the girls were still in the house._ _

__And as long as they were in the house, they were in danger._ _


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let’s go kings, another chapter because I have no social life

Clark hadn’t really _intended_ to stick around this long. He’d just wanted to bring Annleigh her night guard. Yeah, and he’d proposed to her, and yeah, maybe he purposely hadn’t told her when she left the night guard on his dashboard because it gave him an excuse to come and see her. But he hadn’t intended to stay past ten, at the very latest. The longer he stayed, the more he was at risk of getting caught by one of Annleigh’s teammates. There was only so long his knowledge of the _Metal Gear Solid_ games could carry him when it came to stealth. And he really didn’t want her getting kicked off the team because of him.

Also, his curfew was eleven o’clock, and his mom wanted him back before then, and it took thirty minutes just to get from here to his house, so at ten twenty-five he was really pushing it if he wanted to get home before his curfew...

But he’d just heard a bloodcurdling scream coming from outside. The kind that sounded like someone may legitimately be in trouble. He _really_ needed to make sure Annleigh was okay before he was able to bring himself to leave. 

Not that he was going to find her in the bathroom. He _might_ , sure, but that would be awkward and creepy and generally a situation Clark would like to avoid. No, he had only ducked inside the bathroom when he heard some of Annleigh’s teammates coming down the hallway and had to find a place to hide, and quick. The bathroom door was the closest, so Clark had hid in there. He’d gone inside so quickly, he hadn’t even had time to turn on the lights before he shut the door behind him. He’d just stood there, in pitch black darkness, holding his breath as he heard rapid footsteps from outside running past the door. Whoever it was was saying something, but Clark couldn’t quite make it out.

He waited until the footsteps and voices had faded to let out a sigh of relief. Only then did he notice that this bathroom smelled... bad.

Clark knew that wasn’t a polite thing to say about a stranger’s bathroom. Especially not a stranger’s bathroom in a house that you’d snuck into. But while most peoples’ bathrooms either smelled like nothing at all or had some nice Febreze air freshener scent like pine or ocean, this one had a sharp, coppery, and metallic scent to it. The smell was so strong, he choked when he breathed in, and it made Clark’s eyes water and sting. 

Clark felt around the wall for the light switch, and when he finally hit it, the sudden brightness blinded him for a few seconds. He blinked rapidly, trying to adjust his eyes to the light, and when they did, he noticed that this bathroom was a _disaster_. 

Again, yes, that sounded rude. But it was- it looked like a tornado had hit the place. Bottles of shampoo, body wash, and conditioner were scattered across the floor, as well as what looked like broken pieces of ceramic. Did cheer team sleepovers really get _that_ wild? In the _bathroom_? 

While Clark was looking over the damage done to the bathroom, he suddenly noticed something hanging out of the bathtub- a foot. _Oh, Jesus._ Had someone really passed out in the bathtub? Or maybe they’d hit their head and fainted- that wasn’t good either. The shower curtain was pulled shut, so Clark couldn’t see the entire person, but he _did_ see the red stuff that had trickled down the side of the bathtub and pooled down onto the tile floor.

_Wait._

Was that _blood_?

Without even thinking, Clark tore open the shower curtain. Almost instantly, he wished he hadn’t.

Because it wasn’t just any person lying in the bathtub. 

It was _Annleigh_.

And she was covered in blood. Oh God, there was _so much blood_. Blood was everywhere- on Annleigh’s clothes, pooled on the floor of the bathtub, streaked against the shower wall as if Annleigh had trailed her hands down them. The coppery scent hit him full force, turning his stomach and making him feel like he was going to throw up. Clark frantically reached out and grabbed Annleigh’s wrist, hoping for anything, even a weak pulse, to show that she was still alive. That she was still with him. 

But there was nothing.

It felt like the entire world came to a standstill then and there. All Clark could do was stare at his girlfriend, at the love of his life, lying dead in the bathtub of a person he didn’t even know. Her face was still twisted into an expression of pain- how much pain had she been in? How much had she suffered? Her eyes, which Clark remembered as being so beautiful and full of life, were blank and empty.

Everything he would never get to do again ran through his mind. 

He would never get to kiss her again.

He would never hold her hand.

He wouldn’t hear her sweet voice ever again. He’d never again get to pick up the phone after school and call her, and hear her excited squeal of _”Hi, Clark! How was your day?”_ when she picked up.

She was dead. Not just dead... someone had _killed_ her. Someone had deliberately done this. It had to be a murder... there was too much blood for this to have been an accident, and the wound was on her stomach, not her head, so she couldn’t have just slipped and fallen. 

“What are you-“ 

Clark wasn’t sure what came over him when he felt someone’s hand on his shoulder. The only thought that was running through his mind was _Someone killed Annleigh, and they’re gonna kill you if you let them, so do not let them._ It was like every last thought left his body and was replaced by pure instinct.

He didn’t even check who it was before he grabbed the closest thing to him- a metal cat that had probably been used as a decoration before it got knocked off by whoever killed Annleigh -and whacked them right in the face with it. 

Only when the person fell to the ground, the toilet being the only thing that propped them up from the floor, did Clark see exactly _who_ he had hit. 

It was a girl with space buns in a tee-shirt and denim overall dress. 

Clark’s eyes widened. He knew this girl- she was one of Annleigh’s teammates. Reeses, Annleigh called her? _Had_ called her? It turned his stomach to have to refer to Annleigh in the past tense like that...

Clark shook his head. Right now, he needed to focus on the girl he had just slammed in the face with a metal decorative cat. “Oh my God! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I thought you were- I’m sorry for hitting you!”

Reeses, if that was her name, was completely unresponsive.

“I’ll help you up. Oh my God, I’m so sorry-“ 

When Clark grabbed the girl’s wrist to help her up, he immediately dropped it again. It was limp. And, just like Annleigh, she didn’t have a pulse.

Clark’s fear turned to full-blown panic as he shook the girl rapidly from side to side, dropping the metal cat to the floor with a clang. “Get up! Get up, please!” 

_She’s dead._

_You killed her._

_You’re a murderer._

Clark couldn’t be a murderer. He was just a kid, a kid who loved his girlfriend, went to church on Sundays, and liked playing video games with his friends. 

Would he go to jail for this? Could he tell the police it was just an accident? 

Would they even believe him?

_Oh my God, I killed her. I’m gonna go to jail._

Would they think he killed Annleigh, too? He’d touched her body- his fingerprints were there. And he didn’t have an alibi- why wouldn’t the police think he’d killed her?

Clark didn’t have time to do anything else before the bathroom door flew open, and four terrified-looking teenage girls all entered at once. And one of them was Farrah.

“Oh my God!” A girl with a red ponytail clasped her hands over her mouth in shock. “Oh my God!”

“Clark?” Farrah’s eyes widened. 

“I found her here, and then-“ Clark was cut off by a black girl with her hair held off her face in a partial bun. 

“Oh my God, Reese!” 

Farrah looked past Clark, and her eyes widened even more when she saw Annleigh’s body in the bathtub. A horrible, gut-wrenching sob escaped her throat, and she practically slid onto her knees as she ran over to Annleigh’s body, shaking her back and forth rapidly. 

“Annleigh! Annleigh!” Farrah screamed, shaking her sister back and forth. “Annleigh, wake up! Please! Wake up! Please!”

A girl with a braid wearing a tank top and leggings looked up at Clark. “How did you get in here?”

“I came to give Annleigh her night guard back, she left it in my car, and I found...” Clark was unable to finish his sentence as tears welled up in his eyes, and an involuntary sob escaped his throat. 

“Annleigh, please.” Farrah sobbed. Clark couldn’t even remember the last time he’d seen Farrah cry. “Don’t... don’t leave me. Please...”

“You found them like this?” The girl with the red hair asked.

“Yeah.” Clark nodded, without even realizing what he was saying.

 _”You found_ them _like this?”_

They thought he’d found both of the bodies.

They had no idea he’d killed that Reeses girl.

And, Clark decided, then and there, it was going to stay that way.

***

Chess couldn’t believe what she was seeing. There was had been so much blood. Annleigh and Reese... someone had killed them, too. She’d never seen Farrah like that before, she’d practically broken down in front of Annleigh’s body, and Annleigh’s boyfriend- Clark, that was his name -had to pull her away from the grisly sight. He was currently holding her in a fierce, tight hug as she sobbed into his shoulder, while Riley and Cairo panicked over what to do. And Chess... Chess was just silent. After the initial wave of horror at finding Kate, she’d just... shut down. She felt like she was watching a movie, or in a dream- like any second now, she’d wake up and this would all go away. But every passing second just amplified the fact that what she was seeing was real. 

Riley started off down the hallway, but Cairo stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. “Riley, wait!”

“For what?” Riley turned around to face Cairo. “For the rest of us to get killed?!” 

“Do you really want to have the police here when we’re surrounded by dead bodies and covered in blood?!” Cairo asked.

“Yes!” Riley snapped. “That’s exactly when you need to call the police!”

“Whoever stole our phones and killed our friends is gone now. We’re the only ones left.” Cairo said.

“So they’ll investigate!” Riley said.

“Yeah, Riley, us!” Cairo gestured at the five of them. “They’ll investigate us! Do you really want to lose everything you’ve worked for?”

“There’s no evidence tying any of us to anything.” Riley said. “If they investigate any of us, it won’t last very long.”

“But what if it does?” Cairo asked. “What if we spend the rest of the year tied up in a murder investigation? Do you know how that would look?”

“You know everyone here, Cai. None of us would kill anybody.” Riley said.

“I don’t know everyone here.” Cairo gave an accusatory glance to Clark, who tensed up. “You were the one standing over Reese and Annleigh’s bodies.”

“He would never hurt Annleigh!” Farrah’s voice was shaky, but the venom was there. “Clark wouldn’t hurt _anyone_!”

“What about you, Farrah?” Cairo asked. “You hated Kate.”

“You don’t seriously think I did this.” Farrah said.

“Of course we don’t. This is not the time to accuse people, Cairo.” Riley glared at her best friend. 

“We have a responsibility to tell the cops what we saw.” Cairo said. 

Riley’s eyes widened as she seemed to realize exactly what Cairo was implying. “Cairo, if we mess with this, it is going to look a hundred times worse than just getting help.”

“And if we don’t, we’re all going down.” Cairo looked around the room at the four other people with her. “This school needs us. We need...” Cairo’s eyes widened as she looked down at the unconscious Mattie, who had slept through all of this in some kind of alcohol-fueled stupor. “Mattie.”

Riley’s face reflected the confusion of everyone in the room. “What?”

“We don’t know Mattie!” Cairo said. 

Riley blinked. “Mattie is an innocent girl.”

“So are you, Riley!” The look on Cairo’s face was almost pleading. “Look, it’s not what I want, but if we all agree on this, it’s us against her.” Cairo looked around at Clark, Farrah, and Chess. “She’s drunk, she’s passed out-“

“She’s drunk because of you!” Riley snapped.

“She’s literally covered in blood, it’s perfect!”

Riley stepped back, eyes widening at Cairo’s unusual choice of words. “Cairo!”

Cairo put her hands down at her side. “Okay, it’s not _perfect_ , obviously. We can call the cops! We just need to... we need to plant some evidence.”

“There’s nothing here.” Chess piped up. “There’s no murder weapon.”

“We’ll... get Mattie’s fingerprints on one of Riley’s knives... we’ll get a little messy...”

Everyone’s eyes widened as Riley cut Cairo off. “That’s disgusting!”

“It’ll be Mattie’s problem, not ours.” Cairo said. “There’s a lot of pressure when you’re a freshman. Pressure to fit in. To be accepted. To do well in school. Sometimes people just... snap.”

“No one deserves this!” Riley said. “You’d put an innocent girl in jail?”

“You’re the one who always says if you need to get to the top, you have to make sacrifices.” Cairo said. “This is a sacrifice.”

“That’s horrible, Cai.” Riley looked at her best friend as if she was seeing her for the very first time. Chess, too, felt like she was seeing the true Cairo. And it wasn’t pretty. 

“The school needs us, Riley. We do this, and we go to regionals.” Cairo looked around at the rest of the group. “Unless you guys want to be suspects in a murder mystery?”

What Cairo was saying was horrible, but she was right. One way or another, someone was going to take the fall for these murders. 

Riley sighed. “What do we have to do?”

The next half hour was a fever dream to Chess. She wished she could block it out of her memory. She’d opted not to do any of the dirty work, instead choosing to help Clark wash Annleigh’s blood off of Farrah’s arms. Sure, that was horrible, too, but at least she wasn’t stabbing the corpse of her best friend. While Clark and Chess helped Farrah, Riley and Cairo went around with the knife that had Mattie’s fingerprints on it, using a towel to carry it so they didn’t get any of their own fingerprints on the knife. When they came back, the blade of the knife was red with blood. Chess didn’t want to think about where it came from.

“You all know the story, right?” Cairo looked at the four other teenagers, who nodded slowly. The reality of what they were doing sank in. To avoid being charged with a crime, they were about to commit a crime themselves. 

At that moment, Mattie blinked and slowly sat up, groaning. “What’s going on?”

Riley’s only response was to pass the bloody knife to Cairo.

Mattie looked up at the teenagers surrounding her. “Is everything okay?”

Cairo looked up at the rest of the group, nodded, and shoved the bloody knife into Mattie’s hands.


	6. Chapter 6

_Deja fucking vu._

After what happened at the sleepover, Farrah would have been perfectly happy to never set foot in Riley’s house ever again. But here she was, standing outside the front door with her gym bag slung over her shoulder and Clark standing silently next to her. 

“So...” 

This was so fucking awkward. Neither Clark nor Farrah knew what to say to each other, which meant they were stuck standing next to each other in deafening silence. 

“How are you holding up?” Clark asked.

“I’m fine.” Farrah had said those two words so much over this past week, it had become her default response to anyone asking her how she was doing. Even if it couldn’t be further from the truth.

She wasn’t _fine_. How could she be fine after she’d watched her sister being lowered down into the ground barely a week ago?

God, Annleigh’s funeral had been hell. Watching her sister lying in a coffin as a preacher gave a long-winded speech about the Resurrection and eternal life in Heaven felt more like a twisted, horrible dream than it did reality. Someone had done Annleigh’s hair up all nicely with white flowers, and they’d put her in the pretty blue and white dress she’d been planning to wear for Homecoming that year. Farrah had read about dead people looking like they were peacefully sleeping, but staring at Annleigh’s body, she knew that was bullshit. Annleigh didn’t look asleep. She just looked dead.

Throughout the service, Farrah had avoided looking at Clark. But when Mattie was mentioned in one person’s eulogy, she couldn’t help herself. She’d looked up, and, to her surprise, she’d found Clark staring right back at her. They were the only two people in that room who knew what had _really_ happened that night, not the story the police presented. And ever since she’d saw a confused and frightened Mattie be hauled away by the police in handcuffs, the guilt had been gnawing at her. They’d _lied_ about who killed their friends. They’d destroyed an innocent girl’s life to save their own skin. Mattie didn’t deserve to be remembered as some dangerous killer. She didn’t deserve to be brought up at the funeral of a murder victim when some preacher said “ _And let us pray for the family of Madison Wheeler, who must be suffering just as much as we are in the wake of this tragic revelation._ ”

It was even worse when school had started. If there was a worst time for your sister to be brutally murdered, right before the school year started had to be it. Whenever she walked down the hallway, she was met with stares. Some people tried to do it subtly (newsflash: it didn’t work) while others didn’t even try to hide it. Teachers were extra sympathetic towards Farrah, telling her she didn’t need to worry if she couldn’t get an assignment done the day it was due. They’d tell her to take all the time she needed. 

Between the guilt over Mattie and the vivid image of Annleigh’s bloody body in the bottom of Riley’s bathtub, Farrah had barely slept this past week. When she did, her dreams were plagued with images of Kate, Annleigh, and Reese. Too often, she woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. When that happened, all she wanted was a drink. 

Too bad that after Farrah had come home drunk from the sleepover, her parents had finally decided it was time to put a lock on the liquor cabinet. Both of Farrah’s parents had been extra doting lately, treating her like some breakable heirloom- like she could shatter at any moment. Her mom had even left a flyer on the breakfast table this morning for a counselor who specialized in treating teenagers. There was a picture of a smiling woman over the words “ _Help your teenager with the grieving process_ ”.

Apparently, Riley didn’t care about the grieving process. Just a few days after Annleigh’s funeral, she’d gotten a text message in a new groupchat Riley had apparently created. 

_Riley: Hey Tigers!!!! I know we’re all having a rough go of it right now, but I still expect to see all of you at my house this Friday for practice. Clark, I need you there, too. Love, you, Tigers!!! 🐯❤️☺️🏆_

The fact that Riley had asked for Clark to come as well surprised Farrah the most. Why did _Clark_ need to come? He wasn’t on the team- unless Riley was so desperate to fill the spots left by Kate, Annleigh, and Mattie that she was turning the Tigers into a co-ed team. But Clark didn’t exactly seem like the first person Farrah would choose to be on a cheer team. An e-sports team, maybe. But a cheer team? Not so much.

Now that Farrah thought of it, who the _hell_ did Riley get to replace the three members of their team they’d lost? 

At least Farrah got the answer to one of those questions when an unfamiliar black Jeep pulled up outside Riley’s house and a girl wearing a camo hoodie under a jean jacket stepped out onto the curb. She locked eyes with Farrah and gave an awkward wave, which Farrah and Clark both returned. 

“Hey.” The girl walked up to the porch, and Farrah noticed she too had a gym bag slung over her shoulder. Was _she_ one of the new team members? She looked oddly familiar, but Farrah couldn’t quite place where she knew this girl from. “I’m Eva. Eva Sanchez.”

“Farrah.” Farrah practically whispered her name. 

Clark was similarly quiet as he introduced himself. “Clark.”

“You guys on the team, too?” Eva asked. 

“She is.” Clark gestured to Farrah. “I’m not.”

“Wait.” Farrah looked up at Eva. Suddenly, she realized where she knew this girl from. “Aren’t you West High’s flyer?”

“Actually, I’m your flyer now.” Eva said. “Your school recruited me. Obviously, the circumstances could be better-“ 

“West High.” Farrah hadn’t even noticed Cairo walking up to the porch. “Where’s the pizza?”

God. Even a triple homicide wasn’t enough to make Cairo less of a bitch.

“She’s on the team.” Farrah said. 

Cairo raised an eyebrow at Eva. “You know you’re never gonna see a trophy again, right?”

“I cheer for fun, really.” Eva said. “I’m actually more into climatology right now, and your school has a great science program.”

“Climatology?” Clark’s face gave away all of his confusion. “What’s that?”

“It’s the study of the climate-“

Eva was cut off by Cairo glaring at Clark, as if she’d just noticed him for the first time. “What are _you_ doing here?”

Before Clark could say anything, the front door opened, and there was Riley with her trademark wide smile. “Hey, everyone! Welcome back! Eva, so glad you could make it. If you guys want to head down to the basement, we will get started in just a sec.”

“Why is Clark here?” Cairo asked. “I don’t suppose you plan on giving him some pompoms and throwing him into the routine?”

“Oh.” Riley looked surprised by the question. “Oh, no. I just figured that since Clark was with us at the sleepover, he can share in our healing today. He’s an honorary Tiger now.”

Clark looked less than thrilled about the prospect of being an “honorary Tiger”. Still, when Riley stepped aside to allow them inside, he followed behind Eva and Farrah. 

Stepping into that house, a chill went up Farrah’s spine. Knowing that Annleigh, Reese, and Kate had died in this house... it felt so weird to be back. Farrah didn’t know how Riley managed to _live_ here anymore. She had been inside for all of two seconds, and already, she wanted nothing more than to leave. 

Suddenly, Farrah heard a voice behind her.

_”This was a terrible idea.”_

“What?” Farrah turned around. 

Clark blinked. “I didn’t say anything.”

“Right. Sorry.” Farrah turned around and continued walking through the house. Had she just imagined that? The voice? She’d heard it clear as a bell, but there was no way it could have been real. Because she knew that voice. It was the voice of a person who couldn’t possibly be there to talk to her. 

It was Annleigh’s voice.

***

So that was how it was. 

For the past week, Riley had almost ignored Cairo completely. Any classes they had together, Riley seemed to make it a point to sit away from Cairo. When the class ended, Riley would be the first one out the door. She wasn’t just _ignoring_ Cairo- she was purposefully avoiding her. 

“Hey.” Riley was just about to go inside when Cairo stopped her. “Nice move with your new best friend.”

Riley slowly turned around to face Cairo. “The school board worked it out.”

Yeah, like Cairo believed _that_. “And she can pay tuition?” Giles Corey High wasn’t cheap. There was no way a kid who could afford to go there in the first place would have hung around West High.

“She got a scholarship.” Riley said. 

Cairo crossed her arms. “Pretty big scholarship.” She didn’t outright say what she was thinking, but her tone made the implications crystal clear.

“Look, Cai.” Riley held up a hand, as if she were silencing a crying child. “Whatever you’re thinking, shut it down. She wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t asked.”

“Oh.” Cairo scoffed. “At least you answered _someone’s_ texts.”

“Cairo, please don’t start-“

Cairo cut Riley off. “Well, maybe if I was the highest ranked flyer in all the state, I would be worthy of your attention.”

“Look. I’m sorry I haven’t been a great friend in the past few months.” Riley said. “But I’ve been listening to a lot of TED Talks on positive thinking and crisis management, and I’m ready to guide us forward.”

Cairo raised an eyebrow. “By returning to the scene of the crime?”

“If I have to live here, I think you can make it through one afternoon.” Riley snapped.

“Not historically.” Cairo shot back.

Riley rolled her eyes. “Cai, no one had to come here today. But everyone chose to. And I think it’s because we all want to move on. We can embrace this tragedy, and come back stronger than before, like...” Riley’s eyes widened, and a small smile spread across her face. “Like a Phoenix. You know?”

Did Riley honestly think Cairo knew whatever the fuck a Phoenix was? “No! What?”

“Phoenixes!” Riley practically screeched that word. “They rise from the ashes into something majestic and beautiful... this is our year, Cai. I can feel it.”

“Majestic and beautiful... not my usual reaction to homicide.” Cairo muttered.

“Look, Cairo, I hate what’s happened.” Riley said. “I wish I could make it all go away. But at this point, we have two options. We can wallow in our sadness and let it consume us, or we can take our grief and make something out of it. We can come back from this! This isn’t the end of the Tigers.”

“Did you see them?” Cairo gestured towards the door. “They are not ready to go back go practice, Riley.”

“Cairo, we could have died that night.” Riley’s eyes were almost pleading. “Do you know how much we would have left behind? Yes, Annleigh and Kate and Reese are gone. But we’re still here. Not everyone gets a second chance like this. Why not make the most of it?”

Cairo sighed. “I just don’t want you to go crazy trying to keep this all together.” And that was true. Cairo really _did_ care about Riley. Even if she wanted a little gratitude from her now and then. “If you’re gonna have a mental breakdown, now is not the time. Everyone is watching us now.”

“So? They’ll watch us come back.” Riley held out her hand to Cairo. “Let’s do this, okay? Together.”

Tentatively, Cairo reached out and grabbed Riley’s hand. “Okay.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tldr: if chess had a nickel for every time she broke down crying in riley’s front parlor, she’d have two nickels. which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice

“Okay, everyone. Welcome.” Riley’s voice was oddly cheerful as Chess, Farrah, Clark, Eva, and Cairo found their seats in the basement. “Please know that I am so honored you all have decided to continue with the team in this new semester. And Clark, thank you for taking time out of your busy day to join us.”

“I really wasn’t that busy.” Clark said awkwardly.

Riley seemed to ignore this comment. “With Regionals just a month away, I know we’re on a pretty fast track. But I promise you all, we will heal, and we will inspire others to heal with us.”

“How are we going to even go to Regionals in the first place?” Farrah asked. “We’re still down two members.”

“I am aware of that, Farrah, and trust me, I’m working to remedy that as fast as possible. Next week, I’ll be hosting tryouts, and if all goes well, we’ll have two new Tigers by the next practice.” Riley smiled. “And speaking of new Tigers, I would like to extend a very special welcome to Eva Sanchez, who’s transferred to Giles Corey to join our squad. Some of you may know Eva as the highest ranked flyer in the state, so we are very lucky to have her in our pep rally this upcoming Friday.”

Chess sat up, irritated by Riley’s choice of words. “You mean memorial.”

“I mean pep rally, Chess.” Riley said. “We already had a memorial.”

“Everything our team does is going to be a memorial.” Farrah snapped. “Whether we like it or not.”

“Can I please speak?” Riley said, with uncharacteristic anger in her voice. “Or do I need everyone’s permission to continue?”

Everyone was silent for a long time. No one seemed willing to meet anyone else’s eyes, and the only sound that could be heard was the faint hum of the air conditioner. 

_Just give me death._ Chess thought to herself, _It’d be less painful than this._

Instantly, Chess regretted even thinking that, even lightly. What a nice sentiment. Here she was, wishing for death, when Kate was... 

If Kate could have heard that, Chess was pretty sure she would have scoffed. She would have crossed her arms and muttered _”Yeah, right. Death sucks.”_.

The voice in Chess’s mind was so vivid, she half expected to see Kate standing behind her when she turned around. But of course, there was nothing. Why would there be anything? Kate was...

Kate was gone. 

It was Eva who finally broke the excruciating silence. “I’m going to... I’m going to go get changed if that’s okay with you guys. I’m still wearing my work clothes, and...”

“Oh!” Riley nodded rapidly. “Of course, Eva.” She pointed down the hallway. “The bathroom’s right over there.” When Eva was gone, Riley cleared her throat and gestured to the coffee table, where three lit candles were burning. “If you’ll notice, I’ve lit a candle for Annleigh, Kate, and Reese. I want to honor them as we continue to move forward. We are the Tigers, guys. This isn’t the end. You know, Eleanor Roosevelt once said that a stumbling block to the pessimist is a stepping stone to the optimist. We can take this tragedy and make something great out of it. I know we can.”

That might have been a sweet moment, had Eva not come out of the bathroom right then and asked, “Does anyone have a tampon?”

“Here.” To everyone’s, including Chess’s, surprise, it was Clark who took a tampon out of his backpack and handed it to Eva. 

“Thanks, dude.” Eva smiled and dashed back into the bathroom. When she was gone, Cairo was the first one to give Clark a questioning glance.

“You just carry around tampons in your backpack?”

All the color drained from Clark’s face. “I... need them.”

“You need tampons?” Cairo raised a skeptical eyebrow. “For what?”

“I...”

Farrah cut Clark off. “He always had some in his backpack in case Annleigh needed them.”

Chess watched Clark’s shoulders fall as he let out a sigh, almost as if he were... relieved by Farrah’s response. “Yeah. I had some left over in my backpack that I forgot to throw out.”

“Aw.” Riley smiled. “That was very sweet of you, Clark.”

“Thanks.” Clark looked very eager to change the subject, and Chess had a sneaking suspicion as to why. She hadn’t known Annleigh very well, but what she _did_ know was that Annleigh definitely hadn’t needed tampons every month. Still, it wasn’t her place to say anything. That was Clark’s business. Not hers.

“Before Eva gets back, there is something slightly sensitive I want to put on our radar.” Riley said. “Now, as I’m sure you all know, she comes from a different set of circumstances than we do, and may not have been afforded some of the same luxuries that we have. So I just want us to take a moment and think about all the ways in which you’re privileged and then not mention them.” 

Another long, awkward moment of silence. At this point, they might as well have just changed the Tigers’ official cheer to awkward silence. It would be the most true reflection of the team. 

“All right!” Riley clapped her hands together. “Now, as for the pep rally-“

“I feel like we’re not discussing the elephant in the room.” Chess piped up. Instantly, she regretted it. Never had she been so uncomfortable having four other people staring at her than she did right now. 

Riley blinked. “Which is...?” 

“We all know that Mattie didn’t kill anyone.”

The way the rest of the team reacted, you would have thought Chess was one of those assholes who yelled out “Iron Man dies” as she walked out of a theatre showing _Avengers: Endgame_. Everyone shushed her.

“Chess...” Cairo’s voice was low and dangerous. “Mattie confessed. Remember?”

Chess shook her head. “She confessed to getting drunk. She confessed to blacking out. She didn’t confess to murder.”

“Don’t act like your hands are clean.” Cairo snapped. “You’re just as guilty as we are. You agreed with me. You stayed silent when the police arrested Mattie.”

“I was _scared_.” It felt like every last bit of anger and resentment Chess had built up over the last few months was spilling out of her right now. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she couldn’t get the image of Kate out of her mind. She couldn’t even now, when all she could do was imagine Kate watching this with a satisfied, bemused smirk. “My best friend had just been murdered.”

“We all had shit to deal with that night.” Cairo said.

“Yeah, well... I can fix my mistake.” Chess said. “Or at the very least, I can admit that I made one.”

Boy, oh boy, Chess had thought she was ready for Cairo’s anger. 

She was not ready.

Cairo walked until she was right in front of Chess’s face, jabbing an accusatory finger into Chess’s chest as she spoke. “I am not going to let you ruin everything we’ve worked for because you can’t get over your little girlfriend.”

“Why are you so obsessed with Kate and me?!” Chess snapped. “Look, Cairo, just because you’ve never had a genuine relationship in your life doesn’t mean you get to insult what’s left of mine!”

Instantly, Chess wished she could take those words back. She didn’t mean them. She didn’t mean any of that. But the damage was done. Even Cairo seemed shaken by the words, so much so that it took her a good few minutes to craft an appropriate response.

“You don’t _have_ a relationship with Kate. She’s _dead_! She’s not here anymore!” 

“Should I maybe... come back later?”

_And the award for Most Badly Timed Entrances in A Single Practice goes to... Eva Sanchez._

Riley stood up. “No, no. We just need to focus.”

“I’m going to call the police.” Chess said. “Like we should have done in the first place.” 

Chess turned on her heel, and, before anyone could stop her, she marched up the basement stairs, cell phone in hand with the phone app open. As she did, she imagined what Kate would say about that whole scene in the basement. 

Kate would probably laugh and clap her hands, and say _”Good for you. You put up with enough shit from her.”_

Kate’s voice inside Chess’s mind was so real, so vivid that it made Chess stop in the middle of Riley’s parlor. Without knowing quite why, she went to her contacts list instead of the keypad. She scrolled down past all the letters of the alphabet until she got to Kate, and hit the Call button without a second thought.

Chess didn’t really know what she was thinking when she called Kate’s number. She surely wasn’t expecting a response. But for some reason, she waited for the call to go to voicemail. Once it did, she was rewarded with the sound of her best friend.

_”Hey. You’ve reached Kate Dalton. I can’t get to my phone right now, so please leave a message at the beep. I’ll get back to you soon!”_

For some reason, the sound of Kate’s voice, real and in her ear, was what finally caused the dam to break. Chess stood in the middle of Riley’s parlor, crying over so many things. Over the fact that Kate was gone. Over the fact that she’d lied about who killed her. And over the fact that she’d probably get in huge trouble for telling the truth to the police. 

That last one was what snapped Chess out of it. 

Yeah, she’d probably get in trouble for doing this.

But it was the right thing to do.

Chess opened the door, stepped out onto Riley’s front porch, and was just about prepared to make a call when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

A small part of her thought it could maybe be the real killer, come to stop her before she could get them caught. But no, it was just Clark standing behind Chess in the doorway, with a scared and vulnerable expression on his face.

“Clark?”

“You can’t go to the police.”

Chess blinked. “What?” 

“You cannot go to the police.” Clark’s tone was as urgent and frightened as the look on his face.

“Why not?” Chess asked. 

“I can’t tell you.” Clark said. “You just can’t call them.”

Suddenly, Chess’s original fear that the killer had come to find her seemed a little more rational. “Clark...”

“It’s not what you think.” Clark said rapidly. 

“Then why can’t I call the police?!”

“I... Reese... She jumped out of nowhere. I thought maybe she was... I couldn’t see that it was her... it was an accident...”

Chess backed a few steps away from Clark. “Clark, what did you do?”

Clark seemed on the verge of tears as he spoke. “I didn’t mean to hurt her, I swear. And I didn’t hurt anyone else-“

In a moment of horror, Chess realized what Clark was saying. “You killed Reese.”

“Shh!” Clark winced. 

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“I was scared!” Clark said. “Just like you!”

“Do you know who killed everyone else?” Chess asked.

Clark shook his head. “No, no, I swear. You have to believe me. Just please, don’t go to the police, Chess. I didn’t mean to kill Reese.”

“What?”

_Fuck._

_Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck._

Both Chess and Clark slowly turned around, almost in unison. Standing there, with the most betrayed and hurt expression on her face, was Farrah.

She’d heard, Chess realized. She knew everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YES both Annleigh and Clark are trans this is My AU and I make the rules


	8. Chapter 8

Eva wasn’t a particularly religious person. Still, the second she stepped out of that bathroom, the first thought that went through her mind was, _Lord, have mercy on my soul._

That Farrah girl was stronger than she looked, that was for sure. That Clark dude had at least half a foot on her, but she’d still managed to tackle him to the ground. Eva couldn’t deny- that was impressive. 

When Eva, Cairo, and Riley had heard the scuffle, they’d rushed upstairs to find Farrah scratching and punching at Clark, who was trying to block the blows, while a very shocked and confused-looking Chess watched. And _wow_ , Farrah was angry- there were already three bloody red lines on Clark’s right cheek, like a cat had scratched him. Damn, Farrah really was strong.

“What else did you lie about?!” Farrah had screamed. “Did you kill my sister, too?!”

“Farrah, I swear, I didn’t do anything-“

“What is going on?!” 

_Ay, dios mío._

Eva had to hand it to Cairo- she had quite a pair of lungs. The moment she yelled out, both Clark and Farrah froze like kids who had just gotten caught doing something they shouldn’t.

“He killed Reese!” Farrah had said. “He just admitted it!”

“It was an accident!” Clark had yelled. “She jumped out of nowhere! I swear I didn’t do anything to Annleigh or Kate-“

“How do we know you didn’t kill them, too?” Farrah had snapped. “You lied to us about Reese. Why shouldn’t we think you’re lying now, you son of a bitch?!”

Farrah had raised her arm as if to strike Clark again, and that had finally gotten Riley to run over and pull her off of him. Cairo, meanwhile, had run over and pulled Clark up off the ground, and both of them stood between Clark and Farrah as Farrah tried to attack him some more. They’d done it so fast- like they were Secret Service agents protecting the president or some shit like that. 

Had they needed to do this before?

As Farrah struggled against Riley’s grip, trying to get at Clark, Eva was regretting her decision to join the Tigers more and more every second. It had seemed like such a sweet deal at the time- she got into a school that would normally cost her at least 60k for free, and all she had to do in return was spend her senior year on the cheer team. Granted, that team had just suffered through what was probably the most traumatic experience of their lives, so Eva certainly wasn’t expecting them to be all happy-go-lucky, but _this_?

This was not what she’d signed up for.

At this point, Eva was tempted to pull the plug on this whole thing. She knew how much of a weak move that was- quitting after the first practice because of one fight? -but something told her this wasn’t going to be a one-time thing with these kids. She’d signed up to be a cheerleader, not a bouncer at a club. 

But if she quit, she’d have to go back to West High. Where the teachers didn’t give two shits about the kids, where the students were stuck with old textbooks and classrooms where there weren’t even enough chairs for everyone to have a seat. At Giles Corey, the teachers actually seemed to _care_. Sure, she had to wear an uncomfortable uniform, but she’d been wearing a uniform for work long enough. She could handle it.

So really, the only con to staying at Giles Corey was having to put up with these crazy kids for a whole year.

Was it really worth it?

“You.” Eva was snapped out of her thoughts by Clark pointing at her. “You were here that night.” 

Eva blinked. “Yeah, for like five seconds.”

“Long enough to kill my sister and get a spot on the team?” Farrah spat.

“Look, I left right after I gave you guys your pizza.” Eva said. “I have literal receipts.”

“Eva is here because of me.” Riley said quickly.

“So how do we know you’re not gonna go talk to the police right after this?” Farrah asked.

“There’s nothing to say, because none of us did anything!” Riley’s voice was almost alarmingly sing-songy.

Yeah, Eva wasn’t sure how much she believed that statement.

“Except Clark.” Chess said.

“Well, he’s obviously very torn up about all this, and not in the best mental state. He could be... misremembering things.” Riley said.

“How do you ‘ _misremember_ ’ fucking murdering someone?!” Farrah snapped.

“Look.” Cairo crossed her arms and walked towards Eva. “Eva can do whatever she wants. But if I were her, I wouldn’t remind everyone that I was here that night, then got a massive scholarship after our teammates were killed.”

Scratch what Eva had said about these girls being unstable. That wasn’t the right word- these girls were _scary_. 

“I’d leave that alone.” Cairo continued, staring Eva dead in the eye. She stayed there for a few more seconds until Riley pulled her away, and the two began talking about something that Eva was too busy having an internal crisis to hear.

God, what was she supposed to do?

The righteous part of her was saying to go to the police. But the part of her with common sense knew that would be a suicide mission- it would be her word against five rich kids from the suburbs. If Eva were a cop, she wouldn’t have believed herself.

So really, she only had one option. 

Keep her mouth shut, spend a year on the murder squad, get her high school diploma, and move far, far away from here.

And hope she didn’t wind up dead before summer vacation rolled around.

***

Wow, breaking up a fight took a lot out of you. Cairo hadn’t even had to restrain Farrah- who had been punching, kicking, and scratching -and she was still winded by the time Riley finally announced, “You know what? Let’s just... let’s just all get our things. We can reconvene in the gym after school on Monday.” She turned to Cairo, Chess, and Eva, and, in a voice low enough so that Clark and Farrah couldn’t hear, said, “Just... keep them away from each other. Eva, can you get Clark some ice? There should be a bag in the freezer.”

Eva nodded and grabbed Clark’s arm, the two of them walking inside. Clark kept his eyes on the ground, not meeting anyone’s gaze, especially Farrah’s. God, Farrah was glaring at Clark so much. If she wasn’t already a murderer, she might be soon if she ever saw Clark again. Before Cairo could say anything, Farrah wrestled her arm out of Riley’s grip and stormed inside the house.

Riley’s eyes widened. “Chess, can you...”

Chess seemed to realize what Riley was asking her to do and nodded, following Farrah inside the house. Cairo realized then that it was just her and Riley now, and she had quite a few things to say to her so-called ‘best friend’. 

“You can’t let them _leave_ , Riley.” Cairo said. “They’ll never come back.”

Riley looked shocked by Cairo’s statement. “Cai, I can’t force people to stay on the team if they don’t want to. Especially if there’s a murderer-“

Cairo cut Riley off. “Clark killed Reeses. By accident.”

“What about Kate and Annleigh?” Riley asked. “Did someone stab _them_ by accident?”

“Someone broke into the house, Riley.” Cairo snapped. “It was never one of us.”

“Then why did we blame Mattie?” 

“Because they would have blamed you!”   
Cairo didn’t realize what she had said until she’d said it.

“Or you!” Riley said. Her voice lowered, almost to a whisper, and the next words that came out of her mouth sent a jolt of fear through Cairo’s entire body. “ _Should_ they have blamed you?”

Cairo took a step back, every muscle in her body tensing up. “You... you don’t seriously think I did this.”

Riley didn’t answer. Instead, she sighed and shook her head. “I don’t know, Cai. I just wanted to cheer, and people died.”

She started to walk towards the door, but Cairo stopped her.

“What’s it going to look like if the team falls apart? Hmm? What are we gonna say? That we framed the wrong girl? That we lied to the police? That we-“

“We did!” Riley yelled. “That’s exactly what we did!”

Cairo was taken aback. So much so that it took her a second to find her next words. But when she did... 

“After everything I did for you... for this _team_... you’re just gonna throw us under the bus?!”

“I asked for your help with this team long before anyone was dead.” Riley said. “Look. I’ll be in the gym after school on Monday. And anyone who wants to join me is more than welcome.”

Riley once again turned to walk away, but stopped when Cairo yelled out, “If you don’t finish what we started, you’ll be the captain that killed the Tigers for good. Is that the legacy you want? Do you want people to think of that when they hear the name ‘Riley Williams?’”

Riley didn’t answer. Instead, she turned and finally walked inside the house. And this time, Cairo didn’t have anything to stop her with.

Was Riley really willing to end it all like this? After everything Cairo had done... after everything she’d sacrificed? After everything she’d risked? 

Cairo looked down at her hands.

_She’s nothing without me._

_She’ll be nothing._


	9. Chapter 9

If there was a way for the basement to have gotten more awkward since the start of this disaster that Riley called a practice... this was it. 

Clark held a plastic baggie full of ice to the bloody scratch marks on his cheek with one hand, and was scrolling through his phone with the other, while both Chess and Eva sat on the couch between him and Farrah like armed guards. On the other end of the couch, Farrah was sitting with her arms crossed, looking down at her lap and not making eye contact with anyone.

“You know...” Eva remarked, “For kids who have a multi-million dollar gym facility at their school, you guys sure do practice in this basement a lot.”

“We actually don’t practice here all that often.” Chess said, desperate to break the awkward silence. “We were only here during the sleepover because it was the summer, so the gym wasn’t open yet. Usually, when the school year starts, we move to the gym. I think the football team needed it for today, though.”

“Ah.” Eva drummed her fingers on the couch cushion. “So you guys have a football team?”

“Yeah.” Chess nodded. Somehow, in her effort to break the awkward silence, she’d created a more awkward environment. She looked around for anything, anything at all, to talk about. Something that wasn’t football. Her eyes suddenly landed on a rainbow pin Eva had attached to her denim jacket. “I like your pin.”

Eva gave a small smile. “Thanks.”

Riley walked past the couch and up the basement stairs, towards the door leading to the main floor of the house. However, when she reached the door, she didn’t open it right away. Instead, for some reason, she stood there, jiggling the handle like a horror movie character trying to get the door open before the killer got to them. She kept on turning the knob for several minutes, before she finally turned around. “Okay, very funny. C’mon, who locked the door?”

“What?” Farrah looked up for the first time since Chess had dragged her down here.

“No fucking way.” Cairo scoffed.

“Hey.” Clark looked up from his phone, eyes widening. “Why is the WiFi not working?”

“It was fine before!” Riley said. 

“There’s no cell service?” Eva took her phone out of her pocket and opened it.

“Not in a basement.” Chess replied.

“Do you still not have a landline?” Farrah asked.

“That question only gets more stupid with time, Farrah.” Riley snapped. She took a deep breath, then clapped her hands together. “Okay. You know what? Maybe this isn’t such a bad thing, hmm? Maybe it’s a sign. A sign that we’re all supposed to be here together, working this out right now.”

“Or a sign that we need to get out of this locked basement of death.” Farrah muttered.

“Farrah, that is not helping-“ Riley inhaled sharply. “There’s a spare key down here for emergencies. I’ll look for it. In the meantime, why don’t we all start talking this out, huh?”

Farrah shook her head. “Yeah, no. No way that’s happening when I’m locked in a basement with _someone_ who murdered Annleigh.”

Cairo threw her hands up in the air. “No one here killed Annleigh, Farrah! Oh my God, get over it already.”

“Oh.” Farrah tilted her head to one side. “And why the hell am I supposed to believe you?”

Cairo turned to look at Farrah. “You want a murderer? Fine. Why don’t we look at the facts, hmm? Anybody who met Annleigh could have killed her. She was pretty annoying.”

Chess saw Clark tense up at that, and she suddenly got very angry at Cairo. No matter how Cairo felt about Annleigh, there was a time and place to mention how ‘ _annoying_ ’ she’d been. “Well, what about Kate?”

“Lover’s quarrel?” Cairo raised an eyebrow.

“Please, Cai.” Farrah rolled her eyes. “I think we all know that if Chess was gonna kill someone, it would have been you.” She mimicked the time Cairo had just used when talking about Annleigh. “You were a pretty big bitch to her.” 

“Well, maybe Chess isn’t done.” Cairo said. “Maybe I’m the next one on her hit list.” 

“Why would she have waited, then?” Farrah said smugly.

“Why are you guys talking about me like I did it?” Chess snapped.

“Because we can’t tell for sure if you didn’t.” Cairo said.

Clark raised his hand, like he was asking for permission to speak. “I, uh, already admitted to killing someone. I think that puts me out of the running.”

“Unless...” Cairo’s voice trailed off.

A puzzled expression came across Clark’s face. “Unless what?”

“Unless you told Chess that you killed Reese to throw us off your track.” Cairo said.

“Why would I do that?” Clark stood up. “Why would I deflect suspicion of being a murderer by confessing to being a murderer? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“You’re the criminal mastermind, buddy, not me.” Cairo said.

“And we’ve completely ruled out Eva?” Farrah cast a suspicious glance towards Eva, who stood up as well.

“Look.” Eva said, “I’ll go back to West. I’ll do whatever you want.”

“Admit you killed Annleigh!” Farrah snapped.

“I don’t even know who that is!” Eva yelled.

Farrah glared at Eva. “Yeah, ‘cuz you killed her.”

“Guys!” Riley tried futilely to break up the argument. “Guys, please, stop!”

“So who was in the bathroom when Annleigh died?” Clark was pacing back and forth, as if he were deep in thought.

Cairo practically pounced on Clark, like a lawyer on The Practice who’d just had their _”aha!”_ moment. “How did you know Annleigh died in the bathroom?”

Clark blinked. “Because I found her there?”

“How do we know you did?” Cairo asked. “You lied about finding Reeses’ body. What makes you think we believe you when you said you found Annleigh?”

“Why would I even kill Annleigh?” Clark looked around at the five girls. “I loved her!”

Cairo clicked her tongue. “Maybe... Annleigh wouldn’t give it up to you. Maybe you got angry. You’d waited for so long, and you’d just heard the word ‘no’ one too many times. And you just... snapped.”

“You think I killed Annleigh because she wouldn’t have sex with me?!” Clark’s face was one of pure disgust. “What kind of person do you think I am?”

“But Clark never hated Kate.” Chess said. Somehow, she couldn’t connect the Clark standing in front of her with whoever had murdered Annleigh and Kate. “He and Kate never even _met_. And Cairo, you were the one who got Mattie drunk in the first place.”

“Yeah, for fun!” Cairo said. “It was a dare, dipshit.” 

“Oh, it was for fun.” Farrah’s eyes widened in mock surprise. “Hey, why don’t we call Mattie up? I’m sure she’s having a ton of _fun_ in prison.”

“Hey, what about Mattie?” Cairo said. “She could have killed them just as easily as any of us. Her drunk act might have been a trick. Something to give her an airtight alibi.”

“You saw that girl passed out, Cai.” Chess said. “How could she have killed them?”

“I don’t know!” Cairo snapped. “Look, Riley’s right. We’re wasting time. There isn’t anything we can do.” 

“Thank you, Cai.” Riley let out a sigh of relief. “Now, if you’re all done yelling at each other, can you please help me look for the key so we can get out of here?”

“Look, we’ve been through this before.” Cairo said. “We’re a cheer team. Let’s do a fucking cheer.”

Riley shook her head. “Cairo, I want to get back to work just as much as you do, but I really do think it’s time to call it quits-“

“No.” Cairo shook her head. “No. We can’t leave.”

“Why can’t we?” Farrah asked. “I say the sooner we get out of this basement, the better.”

“If we leave, it’s gonna be the end of the Tigers.” Cairo said.

“So what?” Farrah muttered. “After everything that’s happened, I wouldn’t be too sad.”

“Oh, maybe you wouldn’t.” Cairo said. “Because you don’t know what it’s like. You haven’t poured hours of your own time into this team, Farrah. You haven’t given everything you have to this team and gotten nothing in return, but you keep giving just because it keeps the team alive. No, all you know is getting drunk and falling when your team needs you.”

Chess was shocked by what she’d just heard. She’d seen Cairo angry plenty of times- Kate had liked to joke that it was practically the only emotion Cairo felt -but this was something new. “Cairo-“

“Don’t even get me started on you, _Chess_.” Cairo practically hissed Chess’s name. “You and your stupid pills, and your stupid weed- you couldn’t even stay sober for the biggest competition of the year. You and Farrah. You both are the whole reason this team is the laughingstock it is today. So the least you can fucking do is practice this fucking cheer so we don’t look like complete idiots at the pep rally next week.”

“Cairo...” Riley put a hand on her best friend’s shoulder. “I’ve been doing some thinking, and I really think it would be best if we just... skipped this pep rally.”

Cairo turned to face Riley, eyes widening. “What?”

“It’s for everyone’s sake, Cai.” Riley said softly. “You were right. What you said earlier. None of us are ready for practice. I was wrong to call you guys back so early. In fact... maybe it’s best if the Tigers just... went on break for a little while.”

“What?” Cairo shook her head. “No. No. No. You can’t do that.”

“Cai-“

Cairo wrestled out of Riley’s grip. “I’ve given up so much for this team. And you’re gonna shut it down now?”

Riley’s eyes widened, and then she took a deep breath. She seemed to choose her next words very carefully. “Cairo... did you lock the door?”

“Yeah.” Cairo nodded. “Yeah, I did.”

“Can I have the key, please?” Riley asked, like she was calming a child having a temper tantrum. “You can’t lock us down here like this, okay?”

“No.” Cairo shook her head. “No, Riley, you can’t. None of us are leaving this basement until we have something to show for the pep rally.”

“We’ll come right back.” Chess said slowly. “Just... . give Riley the key.”

“Everything’s okay.” Clark said. “We’re all here for you.”

“We all want to go to Regionals, Cairo.” Riley held out her hand. “Just... give me the key.” She took a few tentative steps towards Cairo, and the rest of the room subtly followed her lead, until...

“No.” Cairo shook her head. “No, no, no.”

With that, she opened the pocket on her jacket and pulled something out- a knife. With both hands, she pointed it at Riley, and then at the rest of the group. 

The effect was immediate. Everyone backed away, holding their hands up in the air as if Cairo had them all at gunpoint rather than knife-point. 

“I did everything for this team.” Cairo seemed like she was speaking to herself, rather than to the rest of them. “I gave everything I had. And then Chess and Farrah had to screw it up...”

Cairo shook her head. “I knew I had to do something. We couldn’t function. We were broken. I needed to fix us. But... Kate was wearing Chess’s jacket. And it was so dark, I didn’t notice I’d stabbed the wrong person until it was too late.” 

Chess gasped. 

_Cairo killed Kate._

Cairo continued talking. “And then Farrah, she should have been easy to find. All I had to do was get Mattie drunk so everyone would be preoccupied looking for her, and sooner or later Farrah would be in the bathroom, alone and vulnerable from all that drinking. But of course Annleigh found the wrong bathroom. And of course she was behind the shower curtain, so I couldn’t see her until I’d already stabbed her.”

Cairo turned to the group. “I tried to give you all a second chance! I didn’t want to do this.”

“We know.” Clark said softly, though his hands and voice were shaking.

“Just... sit down, Cairo.” Riley said shakily. “We’ll get help.”

“Oh my God.” Farrah wasn’t even trying to hide her panic. “We’re all gonna die down here.”

“You can’t kill us.” Chess said. “You need a team.”

“I’m not going to kill you.” Cairo ran her finger along the blunt edge of her knife. “It wouldn’t do any good. Besides, there’s nothing you have to give to the police. No evidence, no video, no fingerprints... and poor little Mattie’s sitting in jail taking the fall.” 

When Cairo turned, Chess reached over to the couch and picked up the weight that Riley had used as a “speaking weight” on the night of the sleepover. She looked over at Clark, who gave a nod. 

“I think Cairo’s right.” Clark said.

Riley’s eyes widened. “What?”

“I think Cairo’s right.” Clark gave Chess another nod.

Slowly, Chess began to creep up behind Cairo, with the weight in her hand, as Clark continued talking.

“I mean, Cairo obviously had your best interests in mind. And you’ve all been pretty unhelpful. So I kinda see why she had to crack down.” 

Right as Clark said the word “down”, Chess raised the weight and prepared to smack Cairo in the back of the head with it. Before she could, however, Cairo spun around and, swifter than Chess knew was possible for a human, plunged her knife into Chess’s thigh. 

Chess dropped the weight and grabbed at her wound, screaming at the flash of white-hot pain that was worse than anything she’d ever experienced. Worse than when she’d broken her knee. 

“I should have killed you when I had the chance.” Cairo muttered. With Chess incapacitated, Cairo had little trouble picking her up and holding her in front of her own body, keeping her knife just inches away from Chess’s throat. “I tried to be nice, you know? I tried to give you a second chance. But I think you’ve had enough chances-“

Suddenly, there was a loud thunk. Cairo went stiff, and suddenly, she fell down, hitting the ground. She was unconscious.

When Chess looked up to see who had saved her, her eyes widened when she found none other than Clark holding the “speaking weight”, with an expression on his face that was just as surprised as Chess’s. “Oh, shit.”

The shocked silence didn’t last for long, however. As if they had all been prompted to at once, the four members of the group who weren’t either A) a murderer or B) stabbed in the thigh started moving. Farrah was given the keys to the basement door, which she quickly unlocked and rushed out to call the police. Clark and Riley found some neon green bungee cords that they used to tie Cairo to a plastic chair, and Eva was using a scrap of cloth from her shirt sleeve to bandage Chess’s stab wound.

Eventually, Cairo came to. 

Clark raised the speaking weight threateningly. “Should I hit her again?”

Riley shook her head. 

When Cairo saw that Riley was the one tying her up, her eyes widened. “You said you wanted me to help you.”

Riley looked absolutely horrified with her best friend. “Not like this, Cai. If I knew I had anything to do with you _killing_ people-“ 

“No one’s gonna believe you.” Cairo said. “All your fingerprints are all over that knife. I’m the one who’s tied up. I’m the victim. They’re gonna assume something happened to me.”

Eva stood up. “Actually, I really hope they don’t.” She held up her phone, and Chess could hear what sounded like a recording of Cairo speaking. 

“ _...I didn’t notice I’d stabbed the wrong person until it was too late..._ ”

Cairo’s eyes widened. “Erase it.”

Eva cocked her head to one side. “Oh, but I know how much you love going viral.”

“You’re making a big mistake.” Cairo looked at each member of the group with wide, panicked eyes, like an animal that had just been cornered. “If you bring the police here, they’re gonna come back on all of you, and you’ll be right back where you started!”

One by one, the rest of the group members began walking up the stairs to meet the police. Except Riley.

“We know we were wrong, Cairo.” Riley said. “And we’re going to take responsibility for our actions.”

Eva looked back over her shoulder. “You know, I really didn’t do anything-“

“Except Eva.” Riley said.

“Please, Riley.” Cairo’s eyes were wide and pleading. “Please, untie me.”

Riley bit her lip, fighting back the onslaught of tears. Instead of looking at the girl she’d called her best friend for so long, she turned and walked up the basement stairs to greet the police with the others, as the sirens got louder and louder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> betcha didn’t think this would be a MURDERERswap au as well, huh? see, I pulled a sneaky on ya


	10. Finale

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here we go, everyone. let’s do this :’)

Well, here she was.

Chess stood outside the entrance to the gym, her gym bag slung over her shoulder just like it had been a month ago when she arrived at Riley’s house.

It had really been a month since that crazy day. Chess almost couldn’t believe it. It felt like it had happened just yesterday. 

At first, she’d been worried she would have to testify in court. She wasn’t sure if she could handle being in front of a jury, describing the moment when she’d found Kate’s body. She wasn’t sure she was ready to relive that. 

Luckily, she didn’t have to. Cairo had plead no contest to the charges. There hadn’t even been a trial. 

Riley had suspended cheer practice for a month after that day. She said that everyone needed time to heal and recover, and the Tigers would be back when they were ready. 

Well, today, everyone was ready.

The first person Chess saw when she walked through the doors was Mattie. She was wearing space buns and a hoodie over her cheer uniform that said “ _Girl Power!_ ” in sparkly pink lettering. It was very... Mattie.

When Mattie saw Chess, she gave a small smile and a wave, which Chess eagerly returned. 

“Hey, Mattie.” Chess said. “Nice to see you again.”

“It’s nice to be back.” Mattie had both her hands on the straps of her backpack, like a kindergartner on their first day of school. “I missed you guys.”

“We missed you, too.” Chess felt a pang of guilt in her stomach. Mattie was so brave. For God’s sake, she’d been in juvie, a team who she’d thought she could trust had turned on her, and she was still here and in the gym. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m... getting better.” Mattie said. “I’ve been writing to this girl I met in juvie.” 

“Really?” Chess knew Mattie was nice, but she didn’t know she was “finding pen pals in juvie” nice. 

“Yeah.” Mattie nodded. “Her name’s Tasha. She’s in juvie right now because she stole a car. She’s not a bad person, you know. She just... made a few mistakes. She wants to do better when she gets out.”

“I know the feeling.” Chess said softly. 

“Yeah.” Mattie looked down at her shoes, which were decorated with doodles of hearts and stars. “How have you been lately?”

“I’m in therapy. Grief counseling.” Chess said. “And rehab. I’ve actually been clean for about a month now.”

“Congratulations.” Mattie gave another small smile. 

“Thanks.” Chess returned Mattie’s smile. “I’m kind of taking it easy, you know?”

It had been hard for Chess to admit she needed help. She was worried her therapist would judge her, or that the other kids in rehab would judge her. But everyone she’d met was supportive and kind. They all lifted each other up, gave each other words of encouragement, and congratulated each other on milestones. 

She wasn’t immediately cured. Of course she wasn’t- that wasn’t how life worked. But she was making steps. Small ones, just like her therapist said. Small goals to set as you moved forward in life. It was like walking upstream in a river- you needed to take small steps to get where you were going.

She was never going to be the same. There would always be a part of her that was missing. Kate would never disappear from her memory, and she couldn’t be replaced by anything or anyone. 

But if Chess couldn’t live with Kate, she would live for her. 

And that?

That was enough.

***

“All right, Tigers!”

Farrah watched Riley smile as she addressed her fellow teammates on the gym floor. Not a fake, overly enthusiastic smile, like she had given all the time a month ago. This one was a real, genuine smile. A gentle one. 

“I’m glad we’re all back in the gym. A little later than expected, sure, but we’re all taking it nice and slow. I would like to extend a warm welcome back to Mattie, and a welcome to our two new members, Autumn and Parvati.”

Autumn was a cheerful-looking girl with red hair, pale skin, and freckles all over her face. Parvati was an Indian girl with braces and earrings that looked like tiny pink seahorses. Farrah had gotten to meet both of them before practice started, and they both seemed like nice enough girls. A little on edge, maybe, but that was to be expected. They had just joined what people on social media had taken to calling “the murder squad”, after all.

“And Mattie, we are so incredibly sorry for what transpired that night.” Riley’s expression turned solemn. “We hope that one day, you can find it in your heart to forgive us.”

Mattie gave a small, weak smile, but quickly looked back down at her lap. It was obvious that it was going to be a long time before she would be able to _forgive_ any of them. And she had every right not to.

“Now, as your captain, I’m going to... I’m going to try to not be super tough with the rules. However, the school has asked that from now on, we only convene in the gym, and on school property. All in favor?”

Everyone raised their hand. Farrah would give anything to avoid going back to Riley’s house again. Hell, she was pretty sure _Riley_ would if she could.

Farrah looked over at the bleachers, where Clark was sitting and watching them. Farrah gave a small wave, which Clark returned. 

She could still see the faint scars on his cheek from where she’d scratched him.

Farrah felt terrible about what she’d done. But as bad as she felt, she couldn’t even begin to imagine the kind of guilt Clark was feeling. They’d all agreed not to tell the police about how he’d killed Reese, but that didn’t change the fact that he was going to have to live with that for the rest of his life. 

“Now, Autumn and Parvati, I hate for your first official practice with us to be so short, but some of us have community service in about an hour.” Riley said, looking around at Chess, Farrah, and Clark.

Ah, right, the community service. The police had agreed not to prosecute any of them for their involvement in covering up the murders as long as they all gave information that would help secure a conviction against Cairo. However, they’d still gotten slapped with forty hours of community service.

Hey, it was better than jail.

Riley cleared her throat. “The rest of this year isn’t gonna be easy. However, the bar has been set really low.” Surprisingly, that got a chuckle. Even Riley cracked a smile. “So let’s take it one step at a time. Farrah? I believe you have a new cheer to show us?”

Farrah smiled, standing up to address her fellow cheerleaders. She’d been honored and a little confused when Riley had asked _her_ to choreograph the first cheer routine of the season, but it was a responsibility she’d taken up with gusto. “Thanks, Riley. Now, this is one I’ve been working on for the past few weeks. It’s not that complicated, nothing fancy, but I’m still really proud of it. We start with our baskets...”

As Farrah continued talking, she couldn’t hold back a smile. 

She wasn’t sure she was okay yet. She didn’t know if she would ever truly be _okay_. But she’d always have her team by her side. 

And it was like Riley had always said- when you were a Tiger, your team didn’t let you fall.

***

Clark watched the team practice, watched Farrah run them through the specifics of the routine she’d choreographed. The atmosphere was completely different than the last time Clark had been here- it seemed more relaxed. More open. Chess and Farrah looked more comfortable around each other now. Riley seemed less tense, less fake-happy and more genuinely happy. 

Still, Clark occasionally found himself looking through the group of girls, half expecting to see a familiar brown ponytail. 

Annleigh was gone. Clark knew that. But it still hurt to know he was never going to see her again. 

But things were slowly getting better. He was in grief counseling now, a group aimed specifically at helping teenagers who’d lost loved ones. On the first day, the therapist had told them all a metaphor for grief. 

“ _Imagine your life is a box,_ ” she’d said, “ _and the grief you feel is a ball inside of it. Also inside the box is a pain button. In the beginning, when the loss is fresh and new, the grief that many people feel is overwhelming and large. It’s so large, in fact, that every time you move the box, the grief ball can’t help but hit the pain button. The pain may feel unrelenting and never-ending. Over time, however, the ball will start to shrink. It doesn’t hit the button as often, but when it does, the pain is just as severe. You’re never going to be able to get rid of that grief ball entirely- most people never do. But it will become so small it barely ever hits the button._ ”

Clark was guessing that his grief ball still hadn’t begun to shrink, not yet.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by a chime from his phone. When he looked down at the screen, there was a text from one of the boys he’d met in the grief counseling. His name was Micah, and he was in counseling after his sister had died in a car accident. He and Clark had started talking after they were the only ones who hadn’t left the building when everyone else did. They’d exchanged phone numbers and had been texting for the past two weeks. However, this message was different.

_Micah: Hey, dude, I found this coffee place by my house that’s AMAZING. U wanna swing by Thursday after counseling and get something?_

Clark read the message once, then read it again to make sure he was reading it correctly.

Was he being asked out on a date?

The prospect of that made his heart beat a little faster. Immediately, a part of him felt guilty for that reaction. 

But he realized he shouldn’t feel guilty. Annleigh wouldn’t want him to be alone. She would want him to find someone else to be with, someone who made him happy. He knew he would want the same for Annleigh if he had died and she had lived.

As Clark typed out his response, he could almost feel Annleigh’s hand on his shoulder, and he could picture her smile in his head.

_Clark: sure!!!!_

***

It hurt for Riley to think about Cairo. To think about she had inadvertently caused Cairo to kill Kate and Annleigh. Everyone had told her she shouldn’t feel bad, that it was Cairo’s fault, not hers. That she’d had nothing to do with it, that she couldn’t have known. 

Riley knew all of that, but the thought still hurt.

Cairo was in _jail_. Not only that, but Riley had been completely wrong about her for years. She’d thought Cairo had been a good person. She’d never thought Cairo capable of... _that_. She’d trusted Cairo with so much, only to have the rug yanked out from under her feet.

How did someone ever come back from that?

“All right, team, are we ready to run it?” Farrah smiled.

Cheers and affirmations went up from the team, and everyone began removing their hoodies and t-shirts to show their orange-and-white cheer uniforms. Riley included.

Seeing the smiles on her teammates’ faces, their genuine joy at being back in the cheer gym, at being together- it made Riley’s grief seem just a little bit smaller.

At the start of the season, she’d been obsessed with making the Tigers the best team ever. Now, however, with everything that had happened...

Her priorities had shifted quite a bit.

The Tigers didn’t need to be the best. Riley would take this happier, more functional team over the best team in the world any day. If they could make it here, if they could survive everything the universe threw at them...

That was a win in of itself.

Farrah led the group in the cheer, and the smile that came over Riley’s face was one hundred percent genuine. She was at the top of her game, and so was every other girl in the routine. When the final section came, which called for them to yell out the school’s signature cheer, it wasn’t so much a part of the routine as it was a symbol of their strength. 

“ _We are the Tigers, mighty, mighty Tigers! We are the Tigers, mighty, mighty Tigers! Go!_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow, I loved writing this fic. Thank you to everyone who commented or left kudos on it, your support was so inspiring. I’m glad you enjoyed reading this!


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